Five Nights at Candy's 3
by Springtime Bonnie
Summary: Thirty years after Candy's Burger & Fries closed its doors, the event that took place there have become nothing more than a rumor and a childhood memory, but the owners of "Candy's Fright: The Horror Attraction" are determined to revive the legend and make the experience as authentic as possible for patrons, going to great lengths to find anything that might have survived decades
1. Candy's Fright: The Horror Attraction

I was in complete darkness, save for the red light from the exit sign. It was tempting to run back through the door, but I had just entered, and I had to go through the entire place; I had little choice.

I slowly walked along the hallway. Aged children's drawings could be seen on the walls. They mainly consisted of a cartoon blue cat, but a few contained a purple cat and a penguin.

I then turned towards the doorway on the left and found a new hallway going right with brighter lights. Or rather, one spotlight on the ground shining on my face. From what I could see, there was what looked like a black head on the ground. It was clearly from an animatronic animal. There were more drawings on the wall, as well as a broken mask. It looked like it belonged on some sort of puppet.

At the end of that hall was a miniature game arcade full of old-school game cabinets. With the sudden dim background lighting, the lights on the screens seemed like the sun! The hallway went on towards the left a bit before I had to make another left and enter a new hallway. The lighting here was dim, as well, but I could still see more drawings decorating the walls.

A little bit forward revealed a new room with a purple animatronic shell to my immediate left with a single blaring light shining out its right eye socket. The only thing present on the shell was a head and torso. I kept going forward and entered yet another room with another animatronic head to my left, only this time, it was a red fox head with an eyepatch covering an eye socket. The other socket had a light illuminating the hallway to my right, which was my only option to move towards.

As I went down this hallway, I heard what sounded like a music-box style song coming from the ceiling. It sounded familiar, yet catchy.

I turned right and found myself back in the hallway with the purple animatronic. I kept going forward, though, and I found a hallway with a greenish tint. To my left was a giant glass window. A peek inside revealed what looked like some sort of office. I saw a black chair, as well as a few drawings ono the walls. Everything else was hard to picture.

Finally, I made another left. Within a few feet, I saw a red-green hue on a wall. It was a door with a giant EXIT sign on it. I walked towards it, feeling somewhat relieved. Along the way, I saw an animatronic shell similar to the other one, but was brown.

 _"AIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_

At the sound of that screech, I screamed loudly and bolted towards the exit door! I almost tripped as I pushed the thing open and ran for a few more feet before slowing down and clutching my chest.

I looked up and saw two men my age on the ground with laughter. Their faces were as red as Super Mario's hat! Finally, the one with the golden hair got up and wiped tears from his eyes.

"Dude, you should have TOTALLY seen your face!" he said as he took slow, deep breaths with a giant grin plastered.

"Okay, I admit you got me," I told them both with a smile.

" **GOT** you?!" the other one with the dark mullet and sunglasses asked. "Dude, we scared the living hell out of you!"

"Okay, yes," I admitted, "but I think if you're going to be adding frights like that, it shouldn't be at the dead end of the attraction."

"Yeah, we're aware of that, Marilyn," the blonde said as he quickly got into a serious mood. "Guy and I have been trying to find ways to add more scares besides the darkness and occasional empty shell."

"I did like the use of that music, though," I told Guy. "Where'd you find it?"

"In one of the endoskeleton voice boxes," He replied as he readjusted his shades. "Jeremy said the old employee we're working with said it was called the, uh...Tor-something March."

"Toreador," Reese corrected.

"Well, I like it!" I told them. "I really am liking how the place is progressing!"

"And just in time for the attraction to open next week!" Guy said with a fist pump towards the sky.

"Speaking of which," Jeremy said with a smile, "have you guys read today's paper?"

Reese and I shook our heads. Jeremy grinned even more when he ran towards his car in the parking lot of the strip mall. He opened the door, grabbed something, and ran back towards us.

"Check it out!" He commanded as he shoved the paper in my face.

I took it from him and glanced it over. Near the bottom was a picture of an empty animatronic mask of a brown bear. Next to it read:

 _ **COMING SOON!**_

 _ **Candy's Fright: The Horror Attraction!**_

 **"Local amusement park is getting ready to scare your socks off with a new**  
 **attraction based on the unsolved mysteries of Candy's Burger & Fries!**

 **Featuring actual relics from the decades-old restaurant, this new attraction is guaranteed to bring back your childhood in the worst possible way!**

 **Opening next Monday in the Scottsdale Strip Mall, cost of $8 a person. Enjoy your sanity while you still have it!"**

"Well?" Jeremy asked with a snug grin.

"I love it!" I told him as I handed the paper to Reese, who began reading.

"I was thinking that maybe we could give a first-week discount or something," Jeremy continued. "Like, say, 50% off if you're in cosplay!"

"Do you **WANT** the place to be crammed with furries?" Guy asked as he folded the paper back up. "Because you know nobody's going to be dressing as Penguin or the Reverse Puppet."

"Hey, anything to attract business!" I told Reese. "But let's wait until we start making a profit before giving discounts, okay?" I then asked Jeremy.

"Alright, fair enough," Jeremy said in reply.

"Hey, Marilyn, can I ask you a favor?" Reese asked.

"Sure thing."

"I need you to watch over the place again tonight."

"Reese, I've been filling in your spot for the last 3 days so you could go out to the beach and party!"

"Yeah, I know, but there's something more important I need to do tonight! For the business!"

"Well, you're lucky I'm free again tonight. Fine."

"Thanks, man! You won't regret it!"

"Well, I think that's everything we needed to do tonight," Jeremy told us. "What do you say we head to the bar real quick and celebrate?"

"Celebrate what?" I asked.

"The fact we've come this far in making what will soon be the scariest horror attraction in the United States!"

"I'll drink to that!" Reese said with a raise of the hand.

"Eh, why not?" I finally said in agreement.

With that, we walked towards our vehicles to head over to the local bar. Jeremy does have a point that coming this far in the project is a big deal.

When Jeremy first told me and Reese about the idea of making a haunted house-like attraction based on Candy's Burger & Fries, the unsuccessful family burger place that has opened and closed many times in its history, I was a bit intrigued. The three of us had a lot of history with that restaurant; we first met each other in the final location that managed to stay open in our area. That particular location closed in 1997 due to sanitation purposes. It was rumored, though, that there was a darker reason.

Anyway, we were all 6 years old when that restaurant closed, but that doesn't mean we forgot about it. All throughout middle and high school, and even college, we would never stop talking about the place and why it closed. We, of course, did our research along the way.

Turns out the establishment started in 1966 with a different name: Cat & Rat's Family Diner. It contained 2 animatronic characters, each brown in color. After reports of a child being murdered at the establishment in 1972, though, it then closed and was bought by a new company. A year later, Candy's Burger & Fries came to be, with new robot characters and a new design. Unfortunately, that particular restaurant didn't last long; less than a week later, 5 children were reported missing at the location, promptly causing THAT restaurant to close.

Then, in 1987, it opened yet again with all new, redesigned animatronics. That time, there was a report of a man getting severely bitten in the head by one of the animatronics. It apparently was a miracle he's still alive to this day! Many claim this 'bite' never happened, but we have a reliable source who has proved its existence.

From there, it closed again and finally opened back up in 1997, with yet another character and building redesign. Many claim the reason this restaurant failed was because of reports of blood and mucus on the animatronics. People imagine this is connected to reports of 5 more missing children within the year, but it was never completely proven.

Oddly enough, a man claimed he earned employment at that particular building in 2014, even though it had been closed for years! He claims that after a week of working there, he suffered two broken arms and one broken leg, but not before apparently 'releasing spirits' or something like that. He and his sister both claim this is true, but the three of us have our doubts. Nonetheless, they've been helping us a lot with Candy's Fright, so we can't complain too much.

Since 1997, 3 more Candy's Burger & Fries had opened, only in different states around the country! They all eventually closed, though. We don't know the full stories on all of them, but we know that one of the restaurants was apparently using human meat in their burger! Of course, this info came to us from the guy who apparently lifted the 'curse' of the other restaurant.

Anyway, the three of us went to the bar and ordered our drinks. When they finally arrived, Jeremy proposed a toast.

"To Candy's Fright!" he said as he raised his beer.

"To Candy's Fright!" Reese and I repeated as we all clinked our bottles together and started drinking.

We could toast all we want, but the fact was the attraction isn't fully complete; we need to find something truly scary soon, or this place will flop for sure. But what could possibly make this place so unique yet so terrifying?


	2. Night 1

At 12:00 that night, I walked into the attraction the same way I exited earlier in the day. The office doorway was immediately to my right, which I proceeded to walk into. I found the black office chair right in front of the desk, as it was when I passed through earlier. I sat down and stretched out my legs; I'd been standing up for a while. I then began looking around the office a bit.

It's clear the guys did some work while I was visiting my aunt this last weekend; I could see some new additions to the room, such as some old bobbleheads of Candy the Cat, Cindy the Cat, and Blank the Animatronic standing on the desk. There was also an old-looking electric desk fan right next to them.

Between the door and the desk was an old box filled with empty animatronic shells. More specifically, they were the empty heads of the animatronics of the 1987 establishment. We were lucky to find them in such good condition; apparently the company kept an unimaginable amount of spares.

There was also an old paper plate doll in the box, as well. The doll was found in the '87 location. The arm was found in the '97 location. That arm could've been missed easily; it was found in the remains of that restaurant, which was torn down in early 2015. The most we were able to find in the rubble was that Foxy arm and four robotic endoskeletons in what we assume was in the backstage area.

Other than that, the office looked pretty much the same. We tried to make it look a bit more authentic by having crumpled up paper and empty soda cups all over the place; the old guards we work with claim their offices were littered with the stuff. But not only was this room for show, but it also functioned as the ACTUAL security room for the building! Speaking of which...

I turned towards my right and found a blue, rectangular button along the wall, next to a small monitor flat against it. I pressed it and the screen instantly popped out and towards me, landing right in front of my face. Upon doing so, the screen turned on, revealing one of the rooms via the cameras. In the bottom right corner was the layout of the building, as well as the cameras I can access. I touched each camera button on the screen and flipped through a few of them to make sure they were working properly, which they seemed to be.

I had used the screen before, but since I last used it, I noticed two new additions: a rectangular button reading "Play Audio" and another one next to it reading "Map Toggle". I tapped on the "Play Audio" button first.

 _"Can I take your Order!"_

I jumped out of my seat a bit when I heard that! It sounded just like the voice box of Penguin, one of the '87 animatronics! It also sounded like it came from the hallway where the camera currently was. I then laughed to myself. This must be here to give extra spooks to the customers. Man, these guys are smart.

I then looked at the "Map Toggle" button. Doing so quickly changed the screen layout from the rooms in the building to the vent ducts! I flipped through them a bit and saw nothing but empty air ducts. But it wasn't just cameras of the ducts; there was a message near the top saying I can tap twice on a camera button to seal off the vents. I was confused at the purpose of this until I realized the vents were easy to access in the place; they probably figured this would stop anyone from going where they shouldn't.

I flipped back to the regular camera and closed the entire screen by tapping on the blue button again. I then stretched again. I usually only have to watch the place until 6 am; that's when Jeremy comes by and checks up on me.

Suddenly, my cell phone started ringing! I pulled it out and saw that it was Jeremy's Boss Emil calling. I quickly answered and held the phone to my ear.

"Hey," I told him.

 _"Hey, hey! Glad you came back for another night!"_ he told me in his signature surfer-dude voice. _"I promise it'll be a lot more interesting this time!"_

"Oh?" I ask with curiosity. "What do you mean by 'interesting'?"

 _"We found some great new relics over the weekend, and we're tracking down a new lead right now!"_

"New relics AND a new lead? Man, you guys definitely improved!"

 _"I know, right? So, let me just update you real quick, and then you can get to work."_

"Alright, then."

 _"Like, since the attraction open in like a week, we have to make sure everything works and nothing catches on fire!"_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa; what?!"

 _"Uh, when the place opens, as you know,"_ he continued, completely ignoring me, _"people will come in from the opposite end of the building and work their way towards you, past you, and out the exit."_

"Wait, what do you mean by YOU? You don't mean ME, do you?"

 _"Oh, uh, Jeremy didn't tell you?"_

"Tell me what?"

 _"That you've officially become a part of the attraction!"_

"What does THAT mean?"

 _"It means you'll be starring as...a security guard!"_

He was kind enough to finish that sentence in a sing-song tone.

"Excuse me?!"

 _"So not only will you be monitoring the people in the cameras as they pass through..ya know, to make sure nobody steals anything or makes out in the corner, but you'll also be a part of the show! It'll make it feel really authentic, I think!"_

"Hold up; I thought we agreed that YOU'D be the security guard should we ever have one!"

 _"Jeremy and I had a talk over it and decided that I would make a better greeter, and since you're generally quiet and kinda creepy, you'd make a better guard AND scarer!"_

"Well, I'll try to find a compliment in there somewhere..."

 _"Don't bother; there isn't one. Now, let me tell you about what's new! We found another set of drawings. Always nice."_

"That it is."

 _"And a Chester head! Which we think could be authentic...then again it might just be another crappy cosplay..."_

"Well, we've definitely seen our fair share of those while looking through the buildings!"

 _"And we found a desk fan! Very old school! Metal, though; watch the fingers!"_

"Yeah, I see it on the desk. Very cool and fitting!"

He then just chuckled.

 _"Uh, right now, as you know, the place is just, ya know, flashing lights and spooky props. I honestly thought we'd have more by now..."_

"Same here, bud."

 _"Uh, if we don't have something really cool by next week, Jeremy and I agreed we may have to suit you up in a furry suit and make you walk around saying_ _'boo'_ _!"_

"Hold on; why do I have to do it?!"

 _"Again, because you look kinda creepy!"_

"Just because I'm 6'3" and weigh 140 pounds doesn't mean I'm creepy!"

 _"Yeah, yeah, man, heh. But like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now. Some guys who helped design one of the buildings said there was like an extra room that got boarded up...or something like that. So we're gunna take a peek and see what we can find. For now, just get comfortable with the new setup."_

"Alright; sounds good."

 _"Um, as you should know, you can check the security cameras over to your right with the click of that blue button."_

"Of course I know that; I've been covering your shift for a while now!"

 _"Yeah, but now you can toggle between the hall cams AND the vent_ _cams!"_

"Yeah, I found that new feature already."

 _"Well, what's also new is that over to your far left, you can flip up your maintenance panel!"_

"My what?"

I then looked over to my far left and saw a new screen on the other side of the room, right by the doorway. I rolled the chair over to it and pressed the power button on the bottom right of it. It instantly turned on, revealing 4 lines of text: _Audio Devices, Camera System, Ventilation,_ and _Reboot All_.

 _"Yeah, you can use this to reboot any systems that may go offline."_

"Well, that shouldn't be too much of an issue, right?"

I then heard him give an uneasy chuckle.

 _"Well, in trying to make the place feel vintage, we have...overdone it a bit...heh...some of this equipment is barely functional!"_

"Say what?!"

 _"Yeah, I uh, wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-that's a real risk."_

I'm glad my partners tell me these things.

 _"Uh, the most important thing you want to watch for is the ventilation."_

"Why's that?"

 _"Look, this place will give you the spooks, man! And if you let that ventilation go offline, then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff, man! Keep that air flowing!"_

"Aye aye, cap'm!" I tell him in a sarcastically joking manner.

 _"Okay. Keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for you tomorrow night!"_

"Alright, sounds good!"

He then hung up, as did I. I then put my phone back in my pocket and stretched yet again. I leave for one weekend and it's like they completely renovate the place! Oh, well; I suppose it's for the better.

With all this fancy security (and apparently maintenance) equipment, you'd think we would have spent all of the money our budget allowed by now, but we actually still have a decent amount leftover. Since most of our decorations are from the old locations across town, we didn't spend more than a few hundred dollars total for all of it.

The building itself was built in about a year for a very low price. We got map layouts of all the restaurants and tried to recreate the style of the buildings, yet make it original. Thankfully, we hired a construction crew that helped build the 1997 restaurant, so they knew what they were doing. I truly am surprised they'd want to ultimately rebuild another location with connection to Candy's Burger & Fries, though...

Overall, I'm happy with the way this whole project turned out; we got to relive our childhoods and will eventually ruin everyone else's! I just can't wait until next Monday...

The rest of the night consisted of me sitting in the chair while playing on my phone. You know I must've been bored, though, when I started playing Flappy Bird. I don't know what's a bigger shock: the fact I have this on my phone, or the fact everyone's forgotten about the game! At any rate, I barely managed to beat my high score of 102 with 103! Not much, I know, but it's still improvement!

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I heard a chiming above me. I looked at the digital clock above the giant window and saw it change from 5:59 am to 6:00 am. That clock was found in the 1987 location; we were surprised the battery and sound still worked! We did change the colors of the LED lights from red to puke-yellow to make it seem more creepy, though.

Almost as if on cue, the door next to the office opened up and a familiar friend of mine walked in.

"Hey, Marilyn!" Jeremy said with a nod and a smile. "How did it go?"

"Well, Reese called and explained the new additions you've made over the weekend."

"Yeah, we certainly made a lot of them!"

We both then gave a chuckle.

"Well, I'm starving," he said. "Want some breakfast?"

"Of course!"

"Great! I told Reese to meet us at IHOP in a few minutes."

"Sounds like a plan!"

We both then left the office, left and locked up the building, and walked over to the restaurant. We now only have a week left until the place officially opens; why can't time just skip forward quickly?


	3. June 26, 1973, 12 AM

_**WARNING: VIEW DISCRETION IS ADVISED**_

As I walked through this shitty restaurant, I looked at all of the walls and decorations. Drawings of those stupid mascots EVERYWHERE! It sickened me to see all of this pieces of garbage! But no matter; by the time I'm done with this place, there will be more to worry about than the drawings!

I held up my remote control and pressed the big red button. If my frequencies were correct, then only one of those stupid things should be moving right now. Sure enough, I heard one start playing its damn recording.

 _"Huh-Hey, Kiddies! It's your old pal Cindy the Cat!"_

God, I hate that thing. But that's all the more reason I'm going to enjoy this next part... I then pulled out my walkie-talkie, which was linked to the overhead PA system, and held it to my mouth.

"Hey!" I shouted into the radio. "Cindy the Bitch! You suck!"

 _"Uh-Oh! Looks like we got ourselves a pottymouth over here! We don't like those here at Candy's Burger & Fries!"_

"Oh, yeah? Well, come and find me and just **TRY** to do something about it, you ugly piece of shit!"

 _"If you keep being naughty, I'm afraid we'll have to tell your parents about this!"_

As the hunk of metal said that, I could hear it slowly walk off the stage. I then put my mouth away from the radio and shouted, "GO AHEAD! JUST TRY AND STOP ME!"

I then smiled as I heard the thing walk closer and closer to me. I made sure I was in the room completely, first, just to be safe. I then finally saw it turn the corner and see me.

 _"Well, hey there, Kiddy!"_

"Oh, go to Hell, you robotic asshole!"

 _"Uh-Oh! Looks like we got ourselves a pottymouth over here!"_

It then walked towards me as it kept talking about how they don't like pottymouths at this damn restaurant. Well, you know what? I don't give a shit about what this place thinks! I never, ever, EVER did!

Finally, it was right in front of me. It was about a foot away from touching me! But, it didn't. Before it could come any closer, it just stopped and backed up a footstep. A second later, it stepped towards me again, but again, backed up. It then kept repeating this process over and over again. I just smiled.

"Oh, what's wrong?" I asked in my most exaggerated concerned voice. "Are you stuck, little guy?"

 _"Huh-Hey, Kiddies! It's your old pal Cindy the Cat!"_

"Oh...you can't enter this room, can you? No?"

 _"I hope you enjoy your stay here with me and my buddies!"_

"Gosh, it would be a real shame if I did something and you couldn't stop it, would it?"

 _"Our burger is absolutely to die for!"_

"Yeah, maybe if it was something tragic, like... **THIS**!"

 _"Let's strike up the ba-"_

 **CRACK!**

I smacked the brown sack of shit right in the head with a spare pipe! It toppled over backwards and started spazzing out.

 _"HuH-hEy, KiDdIeS! iT's YoUr OlD pAl CiNdY tHe CaT!"_

I walked out of the room and swung the pipe again. This time, I made sure it landed directly in the giant black nose of his!

 _"i HoPe YoU eNjOy YoUr StAy HeRe WiTh Me AnD mY bUdDiEs!"_

 **CRASH!**

I hit it one more time and it stopped moving. I deeply exhaled and looked at the busted robot. It stopped moving completely. I smiled and reached down towards the animatronic.

"Looks like the show's over for you, Cindy," I told him quietly.

I then stood back up and turned back around towards the room and smiled.

"What did you think of the show?" I asked.

No response except some loud muffles.

"What was that?" I asked as I cupped my hand around my ear. "You thought it was amazing?" I then laughed as I replied, "So did I!"

I then walked back into the room, still wielding the pipe.

"Now," I continued, "Which one of you lucky saps would like to help out your old pal Cindy the Cat? Hm?"

I didn't get much of a verbal response; just muffled screaming and crying.

"Hmm...no volunteers..."

I then looked over the group, trying to find a good candidate.

"Ah!" I finally said as I pointed to one of them. "You look like you want to help Cindy!"

She responded by squealing loudly through her gag and shaking her head violently.

"Oh, no need to be shy," I replied as I bend down to her level. "He'll thank you for it; I know he will!"

I then held the pipe up above my head. She started screaming even louder, as well as the rest of them.

" **SHUT UP!** " I told them all. " **THE MORE YOU ARGUE, THE MORE PAINFUL IT'LL BE!** "

I then looked my chosen candidate for Cindy directly in the eye. Her blue eyes were watery and her tiny face was red. I smiled as I looked at her.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay at Candy's Burger & Fries," I told her calmly.

I then swung the pipe down.

12 AM, June 26, 1973


	4. Merchandise

"Where do you want this, Jeremy?"

"Right here, next to the others!"

"You got it! C'mon, guys!"

I walked into the attraction a few hours later and heard those phrases coming from the middle of the building. Intrigued, I walked towards it.

I made it to the makeshift arcade and found Jeremy directing a bunch of guys who were moving a game cabinet on a furniture dolly.

"Can you pick up the pace here, people?" Jeremy told the men. "We don't have all day!"

The men groaned as they tried moving it faster. Finally, they got it to the end of the row of machines and deeply exhaled.

"It looks nice, guys!" Jeremy told them. "That'll be all for now. Thank you."

The men smiled, nodded, and walked away from the room.

"What's this?" I asked as I walked towards my friend.

"This," he replied with a sneaky grin, "is a game cabinet we found in the '87 location!"

"I thought we cleaned that place of everything!"

"So did I, but Reese got a tip that this bad boy was hidden in the storage area!"

"Okay, but we have enough arcade machines; why do we need this one?"

"Because unlike the others..."

He then reached down towards the back of the machine and plugged it into the electrical socket. Almost instantly, the screen lit up, revealing some sort of game selection menu!

"...this one actually works!" He finished as he stood back up.

"I'll be damned!" I gasped. "What are the odds?!"

"I know, right?!" He replied. "Check it out; it's got 3 games on it based on the characters!"

I took a look at the selection of games. There was _'Penguin's Air Adventure'_ , _'Old Candy's Quest'_ , and _'Cindy's Party'_.

"Huh. Only 3?" I asked. "And none are based on Candy?"

"Well, there were apparently more, but this is the only one left."

"Ah. Wait; I thought 'Old Candy was just a nickname for the Candy they had at the time!"

"So did I...huh.

"Hmm...I kinda wanna give this thing a shot!"

"Knock yourself out!"

He then pulled out a quarter and handed it to me. I gladly accepted it and put it in the machine. I then looked at the game options and tried to find one that looked worth playing.

"How about the Penguin one?" Jeremy asked. "I mean, they'll all probably be cheesy, but it looks the most fun.

I shrugged and selected _'Penguin's Air Adventure'_. Instantly, I was greeted by a blue box with a bunch of lines the same color inside of it. I could also see a small, 8-bit model of Penguin. He looked more like a spooky penguin, but that's old-school technology for you.

Lastly, there were a bunch of red balloons scattered all over the screen. A giant number 8 could be seen in the top-right, right next to a picture of one of the balloons.

"Looks like you just gotta collect all the balloons," I said aloud to nobody in particular.

I then used the joystick on the machine to move the little Penguin across the screen, and then I used the JUMP button to make him, well, jump. I scrolled along the platforms, collecting the balloons. One by one, the number of remaining balloons decreased.

Finally, I collected all the balloons on the screen. When I did, a white 'EXIT' door appeared where I started.

"Huh. Cheesy, as I thought," Jeremy mumbled.

"Hold on," I said in a confused voice. "It says I still have one balloon left!"

I was right; next to the balloon icon in the top corner was a number 1.

"You realize this thing is 30 years old, right?" Jeremy asked. "It's bound to be buggy."

"Yeah, I guess so..."

"Besides, it's just for decoration."

"That's true, I suppose..."

"Anyway, I gotta head out," he concluded as he looked at his watch.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to meet Reese at the '73 location. He said he found a big break there."

"Like what?"

"Not sure; he just said it would, and I quote, 'make this place spookier than Satan's dungeon, Man!' I really don't get that man..."

"Same here..."

"Anyway, wanna come with?"

"Naw, I'm good."

"Alright; suit yourself!"

He then walked out of the arcade and eventually out the building, leaving me alone. I looked back at the new game machine. It shouldn't be bugging me this much, but something seems too weird about that thing...and I plan to figure it out.  
But for now, I need to call the local radio station about possibly doing advertisements.


	5. Night 2

I was back in the security office yet again that evening. Reese claimed she 'needs to talk to one of the old guards about something awesome, Man!'. I had little choice but to accept the role yet again. Not that it mattered; ever since we came this close to completing the attraction, I've had lots of free time. I really am grateful Jeremy and Reese have made good progress!

When the clock above me rang midnight, I instantly gave a yawn. I could tell this would be a long, boring night, as usual. A minute later, my phone rang. I saw that it was, yet again, Emil. I answered, making sure to not release all my anger from his laziness on him.

"Yeah?"

 _"Hey,_ _Man!"_ he said in a cheerful voice. _"Okay, so I have some awesome news for you!"_

"Oh? And what's that?"

 _"First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude, these are, like, prehistoric!"_

"Compared to now? Of course they are! But what's on them, exactly?"

 _"I think they're, like, training tapes for, like, other employees, or something like that."_

"Wow! Nice find!"

 _"Yeah! So, I thought we could, like, have them playing over the speakers as people walk through the attraction. Dude, that would make this feel_ _LEGIT_ _,_ _Man!"_

"No doubt!"

 _"But I have an even better surprise for you! And you're not going to believe this...!"_

This certainly peaked my curiosity.

"What is it?" I asked.

Even though we were on the phone, I could tell Emil had his signature sneaky grin glued on his face. Finally, he spilled the beans.

 _"We found one. A_ _REAL_ _one!"_

I feel like I should know what he's talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't too sure.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What did you find?"

 _"Uh...oh, sorry, gotta go, Man...uh, well, look, it's in there somewhere; I'm sure you'll see it."_

That's reassuring.

"Okay, then."

 _"Ok, I'll leave you with some of this great audio I found! Talk to ya later, Man!"_

Before I could say a goodbye back, I could hear him move his phone away from his face and onto what sounded like a table. I then heard what sounded like a click. Probably from an old-school cassette player. Suddenly, I heard a new voice play through my phone speaker.

 _"Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, welcome to your new career as a performer-slash-entertainer for Candy's Burger & Fries."_

This almost sounded like Emil...if Emil's voice was higher and he didn't have that stupid surfer-dude voice.

 _"These tapes will provide you with much-needed information on how to handle-slash-climb into-slash-climb out of mascot costumes."_

Wait; climbing in and out of mascot costumes? Since when was that a thing?!

 _"Right now we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronic and suit!_ _So please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits, as accidents-slash-injury-slash-death-slash-peripheral and grotesque maiming can occur."_

Damn! Are these suits that dangerous...?!

 _"First, we will discuss how to operate the mascots when they are in animatronic form. For use of operation, the animatronics are set to turn and walk towards sound waves, giving an easy and hands-free approach for making sure the animatronics stay where the children are for maximum entertainment-slash-crowd pleasing value."_

Huh. Actually pretty smart. Of course, the animatronics from the '87 location had a similar feature. And they didn't turn out so well...

 _"To change the animatronics to suit mode, insert and turn firmly the hand crank provided by the manufacturer. Turning the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside."_

Huh. Not bad for old-school technology.

 _"Please make sure the springlocks are fastened tight to ensure the animatronic parts remained fixed. We will cover this in further detail in tomorrow's session."_

Too bad I won't hear it. Unless, ya know, Reese decides to make me listen to them.

 _"Remember to smile; you are the face of Candy's Burger & Fries."_

With that, I heard silence and hung up. Well, as interesting as that was, I'm not sure if playing that over the speakers would be as affective as Guy thinks.

I then decided to check the cameras, just to try and see what Reese was talking about when She said they 'found one'. There are plenty of things we've been trying to find from the restaurants that we haven't gotten a hold of.

Was it a uniform? Naw, she wouldn't be that excited about that. A burger recipe? Hmm...as much as Reese loves burger, I don't think making a Candy the Cat's Burger would make her TOO excited.

That's when I saw something in the arcade. Something I hadn't seen before. I could've just been imagining things, but I think I saw a brown arm at the edge of the camera! It was a dark, almost brown, shade of white. What was that thing?!

I suddenly saw bits of wires sticking out of the elbow. Then it hit me. A brown arm...wires...Reese's excitement...it was an animatronic! But it was too dark of a white to be Blank model. So who was it?

I was tempted to walk over to it and check it out, but I could always do that after my shift. For now, I need to make sure everything else is safe and secure.

I flipped to the entrance of the attraction, all the way at the other end of the building. Nothing there. Of course, why would anyone even think of just walking right through the entrance? Then again, criminals tend to be pretty stupid sometimes.

For whatever reason, I couldn't get that animatronic out of my mind. What was that thing? I don't think it was part of the Candy and Friend's Band...was it? I then flipped back to the camera where I saw it. When I did, I paused; I could've sworn this was the camera where I saw it...

I checked the other camera in the arcade and I nearly jumped out of my seat; right next to the game cabinet at the end was a figure with brown skin and glowing eyes, looking right at the camera! I thought for sure it wasn't there when I first saw it...was I going crazy?

Anyway, I got a better look at the animatronic. It definitely looked old and withered, which is understandable if it came from ANY of the restaurants. Parts of its skin were torn away, exposing much of the metal endoskeleton inside of it. As for what, or who, it was supposed to be...I'm not sure.

It had two long ears on the top of its head, like a rat, only the left ear was half-missing. I only know of one rat in the Candy's Burger & Fries line, and it's the exact opposite color of the one in the arcade right now! Furthermore, its was eyeless, not cartoony and kid-friendly like the other animatronics. Perhaps it's an older model? I'll have to ask Reese about it.

I closed the camera and rubbed my eyes. I then looked at the clock. 12:15 am. Ugh! This night is taking forever! I then let out a huge yawn. I then decided to do something I never thought I'd find myself doing; I rested my head on the desk and closed my eyes. I smiled as I did so. It's not like anyone's going to break in anyway...

After what seemed like a a few seconds, I heard a noise nearby. I quickly opened my eyes and saw a sideways view of the empty doorway of the office. I took a glance at my watch. 12:30. I groaned, but then realized at least SOME time has passed.

I then raised my head as I rubbed my eyes. When I stopped rubbing, I looked right in front of me and nearly fell out of my chair; standing in the hallway, through the window, was that rat animatronic, looking me right in the eye! I screamed and just stared at it, half-expecting it to do something to me. But instead, it just stared. It had a goofy, all-teeth grin planted on its face, as if to mock me.

I kept telling myself that there was no way that it was there, that it was still in the arcade! I decided to prove it by opening up the camera feed. When I did, I got just as confused; Instead of the feed of the arcade, I got what looked like a burnt and damage Penguin. What the heck...?

I was definitely getting weirded out. I put the screen back and then saw what looked like a dark figure right in front of me! It was all black, and seemed to be in the shape of...Penguin?! Before I could look at it for too long, it suddenly opened its mouth and lunged at me! I covered my face and screamed, expecting to die. Instead, I suddenly heard a loud alarm. I opened my eyes and saw a red light flashing throughout the room. I looked at the window and saw that neither the rat nor the Penguin thing was there.

I suddenly found myself coughing a bit. That's when I suddenly remembered what Reese said about the ventilation! I rolled over to the maintenance panel and turned it on. Sure enough, next to the word _Ventilation_ was the word _ERROR_ written in red. I tapped on the ventilation button and saw it was resetting. As it was slowly loading, I could feel myself breathing a little bit better. Finally, it stopped and the red light stopped flashing. I leaned back in the chair, thankful that was over.

I then happened to glance at the clock in the office. 5:58 am?! I looked at my watch and saw that, sure enough, it was 5:58. But, just a second ago, it was 12:30...unless...it was all a dream? Yes, that must be it. I just fell asleep and dreamed that Rat and Penguin were there. It's the only explanation.

Curious, I looked at the cameras again. I went back to the arcade and got confused. It wasn't where I last saw it! I checked the other arcade cam and saw that it wasn't there, either? What the hell...?

I scrolled through all the cameras and stopped when I saw a shadowy figure in the hall outside of the arcade. It was without a doubt the rat animatronic! Okay, something is definitely up; there's no way I'm imagining anything here!

Before I could think of anything else, I heard chiming above me. I looked at the clock and saw it read 6:00 am. That means Jeremy will be here any minute. I then looked back at the animatronic. I can't wait to ask the guys what the deal is with this thing...


	6. June 26, 1973, 1 Am

_**WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE AND SENSITIVE SUBJECTS**_

Well, after a long-awaited rest, I stood back up with a smile.

"Alright," I told myself. "Time for round two."

I grabbed the remote again, which had now been given a new frequency, and pressed the red button. A few seconds later, I heard another stupid voice.

 _"Hi there! I'm your chimpanzee buddy, Chester!"_

I picked up my walkie-talkie and put it to my mouth, still sporting my smile.

"Well, guess what, Chester?! I hate your fucking guts!"

 _"Oh, my! I don't like it when you say that!"_

"Too bad, shitface!"

 _"Please stop, or I'm going to have to tell an adult!"_

"I AM an adult, dipshit!"

 _"Oh, my! I don't like it when you say that!"_

At this point, I heard the robot getting closer and closer towards me. Fortunately, I was in the room, so I have nothing to worry about.

A second later, the stupid chimpanzee came around the corner, holding that stupid guitar. It made me sick just looking at it.

"Come and get me, Jo-Jo!" I said with a taunt.

 _"Hi there! I'm your chimpanzee buddy, Chester!"_

It walked towards me with that creepy face permanently plastered on. But soon...

 _"Ready to play, Candy?"_

"Oh, Candy not ready," I said innocently. "He's feeling under the weather."

 _"Ready to play, Cindy?"_

"Trust me, she'll be here soon enough..."

Finally, it was right in front of me. But it then stopped, took a step back, and walked towards me again. It then repeated this pattern as my smile grew.

"I thought chimpanzee were supposed to be smart," I told the stupid robot.

 _"Hi there! I'm your chimpanzee buddy, Chester!"_

"But I guess you're just as stupid as the metal you're made of."

 _"Ready to play, Candy?"_

"Well, then I guess it's time to put you out of your misery!"

 _"Ready to play, Cin-"_

CRACK!

I used the pipe from earlier to bash the fucking chimpanzee in the head! When I did, it fell backwards, dropping the ugly guitar in the process.

 _"hI tHeRe! I'm YoUr ChIMPaNzEe bUdDy, ChEsTeR!"_

"Well, guess what, Chester? You suck at playing the guitar!"

 _"oH, mY! i DoN't LiKe It WhEn YoU sAy ThAt!"_

Without a verbal response, I reached towards the dumbass's left ear and yanked on it hard. It took a few tries to completely rip the robotic limb off. I smiled as I looked at the wires spark in the now bare socket. After tossing the ear behind me, I looked at that stupid face of his. It still sported that ridiculous grin.

 _"rEaDy To PlAy, CaNdY?"_

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

 _"pLeAsE sToP, oR i'M gOiNg To HaVe To TeLl An AdUlT!"_

With that, I grabbed his ugly face and yanked on it. I kept yanking with all my fury until I finally felt myself flying backwards and landing on my back. When I did, I noticed I was holding a peach face in my hand. I smiled as I looked back towards Chester, who was now missing and his left ear and eye casing.

 _"rEaDy To PlAy, CiNdY?"_

Without eyes, the bastard looked even scarier. Looks like I'm going to have to finish what I started. I grabbed the pipe and quickly struck him in the head one final time. At that, gears and other pieces of metal flew out and the robot stopped moving. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. I smiled at the dead bastard.

I then turned around and walked back into the room, still holding my precious pipe.

"This just keeps getting better and better," I told them. More muffled screams. I don't understand what all the screaming is about...

"Now," I continued, "who wants to help Chester?"

Suddenly, they all got quiet. Even though their faces were beet red from screaming and wet from crying, they were still quiet.

"Look," I told them calmly, "Either you volunteer to help, or I pick one of you to help. It can't get simpler than that! After all, you don't want to end up like the first boy who didn't do as I said, right?"

They quickly shook their heads, still sporting scared faces. I smiled at that.

"So, I'll ask again; who wants to help Chester?"

There was more silence for a few more seconds.

"Fine," I sighed. "I guess I'll have to pick somebody."

I looked over them all, deciding which one would be perfect for that stupid chimpanzee. Finally, my eyes rested upon a certain one in a brown shirt.

"How about you?" I asked, pointing at him. His eyes widened and his head shook violently.

"But you're wearing brown!" I argued. "That's the perfect color for Chester!"

Screams could be heard muffled through the gag on his mouth, but it wasn't going to help him. I raised the pipe over my head and looked him in the eyes. All of them were screaming now, begging me to stop. Instead of stopping, I chuckled and looked at them all.

"You're just making this too much fun," I told them.

That's when the pipe went down.


	7. New Friend

When Jeremy and Reese walked into the attraction a minute later, they had giant grins on their faces.

"Well?" Jeremy asked. "Did you see it?"

"Oh, I saw it," I replied. "What is it, exactly?"

"Uh, an animatronic, dummy!" Reese replied. "I found it in a boarded up secret room in the '73 location!"

"But which character is it meant to be?"

"I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that it's old, creepy, and authentic!"

"Have you seen it up close yet?" Jeremy asked me.

I wanted to tell him yes, but I'm still not sure if he was really in the window. Or if Penguin was in my room...

"No, not yet," I replied.

"Well, let's go, then!"

Following Jeremy's lead, Reese and I went through the attraction and made our way to the arcade, where the animatronic was sitting next to the cabinet, just like when I first saw it. It wasn't there when I last saw it, though...

"It's even creepier up close," Reese commented. "I nearly had a heart attack when I first shine my flashlight on it, Man!"

"I wonder why it was in a secret room..." I said aloud to nobody in particular.

"Who cares?" Jeremy replied. "We found it, and it's going to make this place scary beyond comprehension!"

"Even though we don't know its name?"

"Well, I think I have some sort of idea," Reese cut in. "There was, like, some sort of label on its chest when I found it."

"What did it say?"

"Well, written in red and really large, it said "The RAT!".

"What kind of a name is that?!"

"I think it's a creepy name," Jeremy replied. "Which makes it all the better!"

"We're talking to one of the mechanics at the '97 location about possibly rigging this guy up for the attraction," Reese continued. "We're going to try and see if we can get him to, like, follow people around and sneak up on them and stuff!"

"So I _wouldn't_ need to dress like a furry?" I asked.

"Not unless you wanted to!"

"Which I don't..."

"Perfect! Then I'll call Elena and see if she can fix Mr. RAT up for us."

"In the meantime, how about we talk to Mary about talking on the phone all the time when she's working?" Jeremy asked.

"She claims it's a friend of her who's going through depression and always needs someone to talk to."

"What friend? And why have I never seen him?"

"First, she claims it's a her. Second, she claims she's in Wisconsin."

"Hm. Well, she needs to understand she has a job to do and that she can talk later."

"Yeah," Reese cut in. "She can talk to Madison later."

"I think she said her name was Martin," I told him.

"Ah, whatever, man. Can we go eat something now? I'm craving a Big Mac or two."

"Sure, why not?" Jeremy said with a shrug. "While we do that, we can discuss this whole Mary situation more."

They then walked out of the arcade and towards the exit. I stayed for a few more seconds and looked at the animatronic known as The RAT. Who exactly was he? What was his purpose? Was he an older model of Blank? Was he a completely separate character? I'll definitely need to look into this more later.

But for now, it's lunch time.


	8. Research

The only employee we could find that worked at the '73 location was on vacation in Mexico, so that wasn't much help. Fortunately, there was someone at the '87 location who may know a bit more about this RAT guy.

I drove over to the edge of town and parked at the local café. I looked across the street and saw an empty lot. A few years ago, it housed a family pizzeria built in 1997, but now, there's nothing left but rubble. Although it has been a great supply of relics for Candy's Fright.

But the lot's not why I'm here. I park the car and get out. I then walk a few blocks down the road away from the empty space. A minute later, I'm standing between a grocery store and an apartment complex. If it was still standing, you could see Candy's Burger & Fries from here.

I then walk into the alley and find a small barrel fire and a makeshift tent. In that tent was a sleeping man that looked like he was in his 90's, but he was actually 47...or so he claims.

"Hey!" I yelled at him.

He snorted and opened his eyes real wide as he looked around. When he saw me, he blinked and smiled.

"Marilyn!" he said with glee. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Well, you're always here," I replied.

"Hm. True enough," he said with a shrug as he sat up. "So what can I do for ya?"

"Well, we recently found something from the 1973 Candy's Burger & Fries that we need help figuring out."

"What is it?"

"It's...an animatronic."

His eyes widened.

"You mean...you found an actual animatronic?! Of who?!"

"That's what we can't figure out. It looks like a rat, but it's a pale brown."

"Well, the only animatronic I know of are Candy and Cindy...and The CAT."

"...right...so, you don't know anything about it?"

"Nope. Don't know any brown rat at Candy's Burger & Fries. Where did you say you found it?"

"Jeremy and Reese found it in some sort of boarded up room in the '73 location."

"Boarded up room, eh? That's quite interesting..."

"I suppose so. So if you don't know anything, I guess I'll be on my way."

"Wait, hang on!" he suddenly gasped. "I think I had an epiphany!"

"Um...and that would be...?"

"I know it's not the '73 location, but when I was working my 6th night as a security guard, I got a phone call from the assistant manager at the time."

"So? You said he called you every night when you worked. Actually, Schmidt said that, too..."

"Yes, but in that phone call in particular, he said something about someone stealing a brown suit!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! He was a bit unclear, but he said something about someone "using it" to do...something. He never really said what it was, though."

"Hm. Well, maybe there's a connection somewhere."

"Maybe! Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, though..."

"Hey, it's better than nothing!"

"I suppose..."

"You can go back to sleep now."

"Good! I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Maybe it's because you're willingly sleeping in an alley?"

"Hey! I told you it's because-"

"Yeah, yeah. Your brother. Well, I'll leave you to it."

"Alright, then! See ya, Marilyn!"

"See ya! And thanks again, Fritz!"

His smile quickly faded into a frown as he laid back down in his tent. What got into him?

Anyway, I left the alley and walked back towards my car. Well, no new leads on The RAT, but I suppose I'll have to wait until tomorrow to do research; I gotta watch the attraction again tonight. I hope Reese has a good excuse this time...


	9. Night 3

I walked back into the office that night, right on the hour of twelve. As soon as I did, I opened the camera and tried to find the enigmatic _The RAT._ My first thought was the arcade, for logical reasons. When I flipped there, though, I couldn't see any sign of it.

 _'Elena must've moved it when she examined it,'_ I thought to myself. _'Heck, it's probably not even here! It's probably at her workshop.'_

Before I could think much longer about it, my phone rang. I looked and saw it was Emil Macko . No shocker there. I then answered the phone and put it to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked.

 _"Uh, hello, hello?"_

I groaned; it was the same guy from the recording yesterday. Reese must've thought it would be funny to play the tapes every night.

 _"Uh, for today's lesson, we will be continuing our training on proper suit-handling techniques."_

Well, I suppose I don't have anything better to do than to listen.

 _"When using an animatronic as a suit, please ensure that the animatronic parts are tightly compressed and fastened by the spring locks located around the inside of the suit. It may take a few moments to position your head and torso between these parts in a manner where you can move and speak."_

I'm still amazed there was a point in time where you could wear the animatronics as suits, especially in the mid-20th century.

 _"Try not to nudge or press against any of the spring locks inside the suit. Do not touch the spring locks at any time. Do not breathe on the spring locks, as moisture may loosen them and cause them to break loose."_

Whoa! Talk about sensitive equipment!

 _"In the case of the spring locks coming loose while you are wearing the suit, please try to maneuver away from populated areas before bleeding out, as to not ruin the customers' experience."_

Wait...what the hell kind of instructions are those?!

 _"As always, if there is ever an emergency, please go to the designated safe room._ "

Safe room? Why have I never heard anything about a safe room before?

 _"Every location is built with one extra room that is not included in the digital map layout in the animatronics or the security cameras. This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off-camera."_

Huh. It's as if an ancient recording could read my mind.

 _"As always, remember to smile; you are the face of Candy's Burger & Fries."_

I then heard silence that signaled the end of the tape. With that, I hung up and began thinking. The suits back then could be worn by people, yet were dangerous enough to harm you by even breathing? That's messed up...

And the thought of a secret "safe room" is bugging me. Surely somebody would've spilled the beans about such a room; this was around 50 years ago! Well, either way, I suppose it's not that important.

I opened the camera back up and scrolled through the building. I saw an empty Blank shell, a Chester head on the wall, a Cindy head shining on the floor, and a brown rat by the entrance. Wait. What?!

Sure enough, I saw it clearly in Cam 10, right by the entrance of the attraction. It was peeking its head right at the bottom-right side of the screen.

Well, maybe Elena meant to take it home tonight and never got around to it. I suppose it would be safer here, anyway; this animatronic is our biggest break and we can't afford something happening to it!

I then closed the screen and stretched my legs. I'm officially bored. I began thinking of something to do. I'm not really in the mood for Flappy Bird...I suppose I could try something my mom claimed to do his first night on the job.

I pulled out my phone and opened my sudoku app. I've always been a fan of puzzles, especially ones involving numbers. Now, let's see...I think the 3 goes here, next to the the 7.

A while later, I heard a clinking noise. I looked at the clock and saw it was 1 am. Well, at least I got an hour of relaxation. I opened the screen and looked. It was still on Cam 10, but something was missing...

I couldn't see any sign of RAT anywhere by the entrance! I could swear he was there earlier...! I flipped to Cam 9, which was the other end of the hallway, and I actually jumped a bit; right along the lefthand side of the screen was a dark silhouette...with a glowing white eye!

Suddenly a thought hit me. A thought I should have realized earlier: it was already repaired! Elena must've fixed it earlier, and Reese and Jeremy must've decided it would be funny to test it on me without me knowing. Well, they can try and scare me all they want; it's not going to work.

I then flipped back to Cam 10, mostly out of boredom. Then, just to get used to my future job, I pressed the "Play Audio" button.

 _"Can I take your Order?"_

The creepy voice echoed through the speaker as I played the sound. Suddenly, a few seconds later, I saw a creepy face appear back in the camera! I jumped when it appeared, but I could instantly recognize it to be our new animatronic.

At first, I found it to be chance, but that's when I remembered the phone call from yesterday; the guy in the recordings said the robots were attracted to sound waves! I suppose this confirms that this thing is fixed. This will also be beneficial to us; it'll guarantee that RAT will follow the people in the attraction!

Suddenly, the camera went black and the only thing that could be seen was "Video Error" in the top left corner. Damn old-school technology...

I closed the camera and was about to roll over to the maintenence panel before I saw something that made me freeze. In the window in front of me, slowly inching across the hall, was a dark figure. It was big and wearing a tie.

Suddenly, it ducked down and out of sight. I continued to sit frozen. Did I really just see that?! Maybe I ought to reset the ventilation, too...

I went to the maintenence panel and opened it up. I saw "error" flashing next to the "camera feed" option. I tapped the screen and waited for it to reset. When it did, I closed the screen and was about to head back to the camera.

Suddenly, before I could move, a familiar face came up right in front of me! It was a cartoon-looking cat with a tie and only one ear. Its eyes were glowing white, its body was pitch black, and it let out a giant scream!

It was only there for a second before it disappeared and I could only see flashing red lights. I was still frozen for a second, but I then went back to my panel and saw my ventilation was offline! I went to reset it and sat still as I heard my breathing get softer and softer.

Finally, I took a deep breath and realized I was good now. I finally scrolled back to the camera to find RAT. Cam 10 was empty, which was not promising. I went to Cam 9 and saw the dark bunny silhouette again. I suppose as long as I know where he is, I don't see a problem. Besides, what's he going to do? Scare me?

I kept looking at him from time to time, keeping track of his position. He kept going between the two cameras, though, so it wasn't that difficult. The cameras went out a few times, but no difficulties this time reseting them. I kept reseting the ventilation, though, just to be safe.

Finally, I heard the clock chime above me. It was 6 am. Huh. Time went by pretty fast. Anyway, RAT was by the entrance, where he was at the start of the night.

Reese will be here any minute. I can't wait to tell him I wasn't scared by his little machine.


	10. June 26, 1973, 2 Am

_**WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE AND SENSITIVE SUBJECTS**_

I swear, this just keeps getting better and better. All I have to do now is take out 2 more of the bastards...and it didn't take long to figure out which one I should do next.

I took the reconfigured remote and pressed the red button. A few seconds later, I heard mechanical whirring.

 _"LEEEEEEEEEEET'S EAT!"_

God, could they have made his voice more damn annoying?!

 _"I'm Blank the Animatronic , and I LOOOOOVE to play and have fun!"_

In disgust, I put my speaker to my mouth and shouted, "Well, you know what I love?! When you shut your fucking whore mouth!"

 _*gasp* "Oh, no! You can't say that, friend!"_

"Too goddamn bad, slut!"

 _"I think we need to tell somebody about this!"_

"GO AHEAD AND TRY!"

I then heard mechanical footsteps slowly inching towards me. But there's no way I'd be in any harm from one of those monstrosities!

Right around the corner appeared a thick white animatronic with thick black eyebrows, with children's drawing on him and giant lightbulb eyes. It made me sick...

"Hey, Blank!" I told the robot, making sure I was still in the room.

 _"I'm Blank the Animatronic, and I LOOOOOVE to play and have fun!"_

"Well, I don't give a single shit!"

 _*gasp* "Oh, no! You can't say that, friend!"_

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it, bitch?!"

 _"I think we need to tell somebody about this!"_

"Like who? The manager? Ha! By the time I'm done, me saying something like that will be the least of his problems!"

He then inched towards me until he was finally in front of me. But he couldn't go any further; he just stopped, backed up, walked forward, and just kept repeating it.

"Oh, Blank...it must be nice looking so beautiful!"

 _"Ready to sing with us?"_

"It would be really shameful if you weren't beautiful anymore, wouldn't it?"

 _"C'mon! Let's hear you sing!"_

"I wonder how you'd look if you were hideous?"

 _"LEEEEEEEEEEET'S EA-!"_

WHACK! Instead of hitting him with the pipe from above, I swung it from the side like a baseball bat and hit him right in the fucking jaw! He toppled backwards and landed on his back. His mouth started sparking and spazzing as it tried to move while he talked.

 _"i'M bLaNk ThE AnImAtRoNiC, AnD i LoOoOoVe To PlAy aNd HaVe FuN!"_

"And I love beating the shit out of you!"

I then swung the pipe at him again, hitting his jaw once again, knocking really far down his face! I wouldn't be surprised if it was locked there permanently!

 _"rEaDy To SiNg WiTh Us?"_

He was starting to sound like some sort of demonic machine.

WHACK! One more hit seemed to do it. He sat completely still, not moving a robotic limb. I smiled at his broken face. I really hated how fucking perfect he seemed to be. Well, who's perfect now?!

I then looked back unto the room and continued to smile.

"Well, only two of you left," I told them. "Who wants to help Blank?"

Again, my only response was muffles and crying. What the hell is their problem?

"Fine, I suppose I'll have to pick again..."

I looked them both over. I smiled because it didn't take long to figure out which one should be perfect.

"You! You're a girl! Girls love Blank! They all do!"

She responded by squeezing her watery eyes shut and screaming through her gag.

"Don't worry...I'll make sure it doesn't hurt...too much."

I picked the pipe up and both of them were crying waterfalls. I really don't understand...they're helping their best friends!

No matter. The pipe was going down.


	11. Missing

I was about to head to Candy's Fright for the night when I got one more insane phone call. One that got me deeply worried.

It was 11:30 pm when I got the call. I had been getting phone calls all day, so of course I got pissed when I got one more. I looked and saw it was Jeremy. Great. He probably wants to tell me that he got a TV ad or something else I don't care about right now.

"Hello?" I asked in frustration.

 _"Marilyn! We've got a problem!"_

Well, that threw me off guard.

"What is it?" I asked a bit more calmly.

 _"I've been trying to get a hold of Reese to see how the progress with the sign has been!"_

"...and...?"

 _"I've been calling for hours now and she hasn't picked up! It just goes straight to voice mail!"_

"Huh. That's weird...Reese always answers her phone..."

 _"Why do you think I'm panicking?!"_

"Alright, just relax! Have you tried visiting her apartment?"

 _"Of course! But she's not there, and neither is her car!"_

"Oh, shit...!"

 _"When was the last time you talked to her?"_

"This morning, at around 7 o'clock! she told me about the eBay buys she's made!"

 _"I last talked to her at around that time, too!"_

"Okay, well this is definitely bizarre...have you tried calling the authorities?"

 _"Not yet...I wanted to see if you knew where he was, first!"_

"Well, since I don't know, either, it would be best if you did that now! Reese would never just abandon us like this!"

 _"Exactly my point...ok...I'll call now."_

"Good. I'm on my way to the attraction now to watch the place. Give me an update tomorrow, okay?"

 _"Of course, Marilyn!"_

He then hung up, as did I. I then just stood there in shock. Did Reese really just leave without talking to us about it? That's totally not like her at all!

I just hope the police can help us find her. But for now, I have a building to guard.


	12. Night 4

As I sat in the chair in my office, I just couldn't help but think of Reese and where she could possibly be. It's entirely possible that she's safe and sound, but it worries me that he wouldn't give me or Jeremy a warning of where he'd be...

Another thing to worry about is RAT. I swear on everything I have that it moved yesterday! Yet...Elena claims she didn't fix it. Clearly something is contradicting here, but either one doesn't make sense.

Before I could think much harder on it, my cell phone rang. I looked and my eyes lit up; it was Reese!

"Reese!" I said as I answered. "Where the hell are you?!"

 _"Uh, hello? Hello, hello?"_

"Reese, stop playing those damn recordings and talk to me!"

 _"Uh, there's been a slight change of company policy concerning use of the suits. Um...don't."_

I paused. I was worried about Reese, but that last line caught my attention.

 _"After learning of an unfortunate incident at a sister location involving multiple and simultaneous spring lock failures, the company has deemed the suits temporarily unfit for employees."_

Hold on...you mean those suits actually hurt somebody? Well, I suppose that makes sense; just BREATHING could cause it to fail!

 _"Safety is our top priority at Candy's Burger & Fries, which is why the classic suits are being retired to an appropriate location, while being looked at by our technician."_

Safety is their top priority? Ha!

 _"Until replacements arrive, you'll be expected to wear the temporary costumes provided to you. Keep in mind that they were found on very short notice, so any questions about appropriateness-slash-relevance should be deflected."_

Huh. So they got new costumes? I bet they must've looked funny.

 _"I repeat: the classic suits are not to be touched, activated, or worn. That being said, we are free of liability; do as you wish."_

I can't believe it took that long for people to realize something was wrong with the suits. Of course, only an idiot would willingly go inside of something like that after hearing that news.

 _"As always, remember to smile; you are the face of Candy's Burger & Fries ."_

"Okay, Reese, now talk to m-!"

Before I could finish, the phone hung up. I quickly pressed redial and waited.

 _"Huh-Hey! Sorry I can't answer the phone right now! Uh, if this is relating to Candy's Fright, the insanely awesome horror attraction, please call either Jeremy Fitzgerald_ _or Marilyn Schmidt. If this is a personal call, just hold tight and I'll call ya back! Later!"_

I groaned as I hung up. What the hell is this man doing?! I then heard a clanking noise that nearly gave me a heart attack from inside the building. That's when I realized there's one more pain I have to deal with...

I opened the camera screen to try and find RAT. I checked Cam 10, only to discover it empty. I then flipped to Cam 9. Empty. Well, this is a great start.

I then looked at Cam 8, the hallway with the Cindy and Reverse Puppet heads, and saw a tall figure with 2 short ears. It was darkened because of the lighting, but it was definitely RAT. I'm still confused as to how it's moving; I can only hope Elena was joking about not fixing it.

I then closed the screen and rubbed my eyes. I just wish I could just make this night go faster; the quicker the night finishes, the quicker I can help look for Reese.

I opened the screen back up and saw RAT was gone! I quickly checked the adjacent rooms to try and find where he went. It didn't take long to find him in the arcade, right by the machines, staring at me with giant, glowing eyes.

I then found myself coughing and feeling a bit light-headed. In fact, I could barely make out the words _VENTILATION ERROR_ in the top left corner of the screen! I quickly turned the screen off and rolled towards the maintenance panel, where I immediately pressed the _"ventilation"_ button.

As I took deep breaths as the ventilation cleared, I found myself blinking a lot faster. Once we make a profit, I'm definitely going to get a better air system in this place.

I scrolled back to the screen and opened it up. I almost had a heart attack when I did; on the arcade machine screen, shown really bright, was some sort of creepy image. It looked like a negative, but it also liked like a familiar, cat-looking animatronic...

But I couldn't see RAT anywhere, so I decided to try the audio to test how well it works in distracting him.

 _"Can I take your Order!"_

A second later, the brown rat appeared back in the screen, looking around, seemingly confused. I smiled at the sight.

Suddenly, the screen went black. I groaned and closed the screen to reset the camera display. When I turned, though, I screamed in panic.

Standing next to me was a tall, purple, yet seemingly burnt animatronic! Yet, it wasn't RAT; it had an orange beak and a rosy pink bow tie.

It screamed in my face in a loud shriek before it disappeared in a flash! After a second, the white flash faded, replacing my sight with flashing red lights! I found myself coughing yet again!

I went back to the panel and saw _'error'_ flashing next to both the camera and ventilation buttons! I quickly pressed _'reboot all'_ and waited. I coughed and coughed and gasped and gasped as I sat there, waiting for everything to clear up.

That's another thing I've been wondering about: why do these seemingly burnt animatronics keep showing up in the place?! I mean, they're obviously not real, but what are they?! If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were...phantoms.

Anyway, the systems were reset and I could breathe clearly. I finally went back to the screen and saw RAT was still there, which is certainly a relief. I still don't think he'll do much harm to me, but these things admittedly give me the creeps.

From there on, it was a simple task of using my audio to keep RAT in the arcade, far away from me. I had to reset my audio a few times, but I thankfully didn't have any issues with any of the Phantoms.

Finally, I heard the clock chiming above me. I then sat back in my chair and rubbed my eyes again. Now that that's over with, I can focus on more important things.

A minute later, Jeremy came into the building with a nervous expression.

"Find anything about Reese?" I asked him. He shook his head in response.

"I've tried calling her multiple times, but it went straight to voice mail!" He replied.

"Well, I got a call from her cell right at midnight," I told him, "but it was just one of the recordings she found. As soon as it was done, it hung up!"

"Did you call back?!"

"Of course! But it went to voice mail..."

"What the hell is going on with this woman?!"

"I'm not sure, but we need to find out soon!"

"No kidding..."

With that, we both left the attraction, confused and concerned. Hopefully we can get our friend back.


	13. June 26, 1973, 3 AM

**I _T SHOULD BE OBVIOUS WHAT'S AHEAD AT THIS POINT._**

Well, it was almost over. I just gotta take care of one more of the little robotic pieces of shit and I'll be done! I took the remote and pressed the big red button. A second later, I heard the voice from a lot father away than the others before it.

 _"Hi, Everyone! I'm Candy the Cat! Welcome to Candy's Burger & Fries l!_

God, I'm really going to enjoy this one...

"HEY!" I screamed into the radio. "Come and get me, Fucksy the FuckTard!"

 _"Hey! We may be sailors here at Candy's, but there ain't a reason to be speakin' like one!"_

"Aw, shut the hell up, you lame excuse of a Cat!"

 _"Hey! Speak like that again, and you'll be going to the security office!"_

"FUCK! OFF!"

I could then hear rapid movement throughout the building. That robot always was known for being faster than the others, but it didn't matter in my case; speed wasn't going to get him out of this one!

A second later, the blue, tie-wearing asshole came around the corner and looked around. When his mechanical eye laid on me, he paused and stared at me.

 _"Hey, Everyone! Care to join Me and My Sister Cindy for a jolly ol' adventure?"_

"Why the fuck would I help YOU?!"

 _"Hey! We may be sailors here at Candy's, but there ain't a reason to be speakin' like one!"_

"God, are ALL you dumbasses so REPETITIVE?!"

 _"Hey! Speak like that again, and you'll be going to the security office!"_

You know, in the room or not, I was going to get this son of a bitch! I grabbed the pipe, ran towards him, and smacked him right in the face! He fell back and sparks flew out of his mouth as he spoke.

 _"aHoY, mAtEyS! I'm CaNdY ThE cAt! wElCoMe To Me CaNdY's BuRgEr & FrIeS!"_

I whacked him in the face again with all of my rage!

 _"PLeAsE HeLp?"_

 **WHACK!**

 _"pRePaRe To SiNg aNd DaNce!"_

 **WHACK!**

That did it. He stopped talking and moving. He sat there, just like the others. I smiled and spat at his metallic corpse; I hate cat.

"Shut the Hell Up and a bottle of **FUCK YOU**!"

I walked back into the room and looked at the only one left with a smile.

"I'd ask for volunteers," I explained, "but seeing as how it's just you..."

He shook and screamed with all he could. I just sighed and crouched down.

"Look at me."

He just continued to squirm and scream. That's when I smacked him in the face with all my might.

 **"LOOK AT ME!"**

He stopped screaming as he slowly turned towards be with his wet face. I could see a red handprint on his cheek from where I slapped him.

"There's no reason to be upset," I continued. "You're helping a fallen Singer! You should be happy!"

He squeezed his eyes shut and began shaking. I sat back up, picked up the pipe, and held it over his head.

"Well, Kid, have fun!"

The pipe went down for the last time.


	14. Visiting Time

I sat in the seat and thanked the guard. I then looked at the man in front of me. The only thing separating us was a plane of glass and a telephone. He had a short head of snow-white hair, large-lensed glasses, and an equally white long beard. His face was blank, as if he didn't want to see me, which is entirely plausible.

He picked up his phone, and I picked up mine.

 _"Who are you?"_ He asked while making eye contact with me in a creepy fashion.

"My name is Marilyn Schmidt," I replied. "My friends and I have been building a horror attraction based on the Candy's Burger & Fries chain."

 _"Is that so? And why on Earth would you be doing such a thing?"_

"Well, we all met at Candy's Burger & Fries. Actually, it was in 1997, to be exact."

That certainly piqued his interest; one of his eyebrows rose.

 _"I see...so why would you be visiting me?"_

"Well, shouldn't it be obvious? I did my research and discovered you were arrested on June 26th, 1997 for the disappearances, possibly the deaths, of five children that went missing that year."

 _"So?"_

"So, I'm curious as to why you did it."

 _"_ _Who says I did it?"_

"Well, you were ARRESTED after VIDEO EVIDENCE showed YOU entering the back room with the children!"

 _"So? Nobody has a video of me committing any murders."_

"Look, just...you know the franchise on a personal level, so I was wondering if you could clarify a few things with me."

 _"...fine. I guess I got nothing to lose."_

"So, I did a bit more research, Mr. Morado, and I discovered you were actually the manager of Candy's Burger & Fries in 1987, where a man supposedly was severely hospitalized after one of your animatronics bit his head."

 _"Key word: supposedly."_

"Well, we happen to know better; we've seen this bite victim for ourselves."

He just stared at me with an angry expression. He then muttered something under his breath as he looked down. I think I could hear him say '' _Fritz''...whoever_ that is.

 _"Alright,"_ he finally replied. _"But what does this have to do with anything?"_

"Well, I then discovered you also worked at the Candy's Burger & Fries location in 1973 as a waiter."

 _"Again, what does-"_

"That year, the place closed because five children went missing."

He stared at me again. He didn't look too happy.

"You would've been around your mid-thirties at that time," I continued. "So it's not like you were too young to remember that."

 _"You really aren't answering the question of what this has to do with anything."_

"Actually, I think I am. In 1973, you worked at an establishment where 5 children went missing on June 26th. Then, 24 years later, TO THE DAY, you were arrested for the case of 5 more missing children."

 _"So, what? You think I was responsible for the disappearances in 1973?"_

"I'm not saying that. But I'm sure you know SOMETHING."

He shrugged.

 _"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. What's it to you?"_

"Well, we're basing the horror attraction on the rumors, so we need as much info as possible."

He just stared at me again. We were both silent for a while, waiting for one of us to speak.

 _"I will say this,"_ he finally told me. _"I didn't do anything to any children in 1973. I give you my word on that."_

"Do you know anything about who did it?"

 _"...I do."_

"Who was it?"

He then chuckled.

 _"I ain't spilling the beans on his name...not that it matters."_

"I don't care about the name. I just want to know what his role was. Was he a waiter, too? A mechanic? A guard?"

 _"Heh. He was a bit of everything. One of the greatest employees in company history."_

"Oh, really?"

 _"There's not a job that man couldn't do, although he did prefer working as a performer."_

"You mean, like being with children?"

 _"Heh heh. You got it."_

"Jesus, he must be a sicko..."

 _"That he was."_

"I noticed you keep referring to him in the past tense. Why is that?"

 _"Why do you think?"_

"...oh. So, he's..."

 _"Yup. Burning in a deep level of Hell."_

"How did he die?"

 _"Well, now that's a company secret."_

"Come on. What's the harm of telling me?"

 _"Only the fact that all employees were sworn into never telling a soul. Ever."_

"What could possibly require that much secrecy?"

 _"Well, only the few remaining workers at the Candy's Burger & Fries at the time will ever know."_

"...you're really not going to tell me?"

 _"Even if I wasn't sworn to secrecy, I don't see a point in informing you what happened."_

"Fine. I suppose that's fair."

 _"Now, I suppose if there's no other business..."_

"So, from what I've gathered, the one responsible for the missing children in 1973 was an employee who did a little bit of everything, yet preferred being with the kids? And on top of that, he died in a way that caused the entire company to be sworn to secrecy about what happened?"

 _"Pretty much."_

"...I see. Thank you for your time, Mr. Morado."

 _"It's my pleasure, Mrs. Schmidt."_

I don't have the best memory in the world, but that visit with Vincent Morado stuck with me, even though it was over a month ago.

Now, as I sit here, thinking about that conversation, I wonder just how relevant it could be to our current situation. Reese missing, phantom animatronics...I'm not sure how it's connected. I'm not even sure that it is...maybe I'm just getting paranoid.

All I know is that it's been 24 hours and not a word from Reese. I really hope we find her


	15. Night 5

This week has been crazy beyond belief. First we found the new animatronic, then I started seeing phantoms, and now Reese is missing! There are so many questions left unanswered, but hopefully I can find the answers soon.

I sat in the office that night at midnight, as usual. I thought about Reese and where she could possibly be. We've already contacted the police, and they claim to be searching for her. I just hope she's ok...

Just out of curiosity, I opened the security cameras to look for RAT. It didn't take long for me to find him in Cam 8, standing right in front of the Cindy head/light. I swore to myself that at 6 am, I'm going to personally observe this thing to the fullest extent.

Suddenly, my phone rang! I looked and saw it was Reese! Here's hoping she'll respond to me...

"Okay, Reese! Where the hell are you?! Jeremy and I have been worried sick!"

 _"Uh, hello, hello? Um, this is just a reminder about company policy concerning the safe room."_

It's another damn recording again. Why is Reese calling me and playing those cassettes?!

 _"The safe room is reserved for equipment and/or other property not being currently used and is in fact a safety location for employees only."_

Well, I suppose that sheds a bit more light on this mysterious safe room, but it doesn't explain what's going on with Reese!

 _"This is not a break room and should not be considered a place for employees to hide and/or congregate. And under no circumstances should a customer_ _EVER_ _be taken to this room and out of the main show area."_

Okay, so we found out about how nobody is allowed in the safe room. Who cares?

 _"Management has also been made aware that the Rat and Cat animatronic's has been noticeably moved."_

Wait...did he just say "RAT and CAT"?!

 _"We would like to remind employees that these costumes is not safe to wear under any circumstances."_

An unsafe Cat and Rat suits...? No...could it be?

 _"Thank you, and remember to smile; you are the face of Candy's Burger & Fries."_

"REESE, TALK TO M-!"

It was too late; she hung up. I pressed redial almost immediately.

 _"Huh-Hey!_ _Sorry I can't answer the phone right now!"_

I then hung up and groaned. I would love to find out what's going on with her, but that's not my biggest focus as of now; I gotta take a good look at this RAT animatronic.

I opened the camera back up and saw that RAT wasn't in Cam 8 anymore. I then pressed _Play Audio_ to bring it back.

 _"Can I take your Order?"_

A second later, the rat came back into view, looking around the room. I laughed as I stared at its confusion.

I then began wondering about this thing more that ever. If this is really one of the suit that the guy in the tapes was talking about, then it would explain its origins. But he mentioned something about it not being safe to wear...

Springtrap when walked back down the hallway and towards Cam 9. I opened the camera and saw him enter the hallway by the entrance, looking at everything. The fact it can look around like that gives me the creeps.

Suddenly, the video feed went out. Figures. I closed the screen and went to reset the camera system. While I waited for it to reset, I thought about what the guy said about the safe room...

He made it sound like somebody used the room to blow off work or something like that. Which is understandable, but why is he making this safe room sound so secretive?

In any case, the system restarted and I scrolled back over to the screen. As I did, I thought I could hear soft clanking echo throughout the building.

I reopened the screen and saw RAT wasn't in Cam 9, like I had last seen him. I was about to check the adjacent rooms, but then a thought hit me. I changed to the vent cams and instantly saw the brown rat slowly inching his way down the ventilation system!

I quickly double-tapped the camera screen button and saw a message displaying _"Sealing"_ across the screen. Finally, it stopped and I saw the small green horizontal line representing the seal turn red.

It would appear I closed it just in time, too; RAT quickly stopped and looked confused, yet again. I smiled as I watched his robotic face. I then instantly became embarrassed when I realized I was laughing at the misery of an object that wasn't even alive.

Suddenly, the ventilation went offline again. I quickly shut the screen to turn over to the maintenance panel. When I did, though, I nearly fell out of my seat!

With the same scream as the other phantom animatronics, what seemed to be a burnt-brown, broken chimpanzee appeared out of the blue and lunged at me with only one arm in front of it! I put my hands up to protect myself, but I was only greeted by the sound and red lights of an alarm.

After lowering my hands and seeing the chimpanzee was gone, I went to the panel and quickly reset the ventilation. I could feel sweat build up on my forehead as I coughed loudly. I'm not sure how much longer I can take this poor ventilation system!

When it finally reset, I took a deep breath and scrolled to the security screen. I then opened the cam and instantly saw the vent was empty. Shocker.

I flipped back to the main camera system and saw that RAT wasn't in Cam 9, either!

 _"Can I take your Order?"_

When I pressed the button again, I got an _"audio error"_ message. Despite this, I waited for a few seconds. No sign of him. I then began panicking; where was he?

I flipped to Cam 8 and didn't see him there. Dammit! I then went to Cam 7. Nothing.

I then sighed and went to the panel to reset the audio. I felt a bit worried that I couldn't find RAT anywhere, but I then realized that it may be for nothing, because, again, what's the worst he can do? Though I'd prefer him to stay away from me...

When the audio reset, I went back to the screen and immediately went on a hunt for RAT. After a quick search, I found him in the arcade, staring at me with his glowing white eyes. God, it's like he's staring into my soul...

For the next few hours, it was a simple task of keeping a close eye on the rat, using my audio to keep him away from me. I had to keep reseting everything, but it was quick and easy with no problems from Phantoms.

Finally, at 5:55, I managed to get RAT in the arcade again. I smiled as I looked up at the clock and realized I had 5 minutes before I was out of this hellhole; then Jeremy could come in and help me investigate this contraption!

I looked back at the screen and saw that RAT was gone! I also heard metal clanking echo...I checked the vent cams and saw that, sure enough, he was inching through the vents, but this time at a faster pace!

I quickly double-tapped the button and waited for it to seal up. RAT was out of view by the time the _"Sealing"_ message disappeared. Hopefully he was stopped...

I looked at the map and saw that the particular vent he was going down would lead to the corner right outside my office door. Man, I hope he doesn't get close to me!

I closed the screen and felt my heart beating rapidly. This can't be happening now; I have 3 minutes left until I'm done! My heart dropped even more when I heard metal thumping get really loud, as if...

I slowly looked at the doorway and saw a brown robot face peeking through the left side of the frame, staring at me with a frozen smile. I, however, did not return the expression.

I did nothing but stare at the RAT for the next...well...it seemed like forever! I didn't move a muscle; I just looked at its face. Now that it was closer to me, I could see a lot of ripped up patches all across it. I guess age does that to you.

Finally, the clock rang from above! I finally smiled when I heard that noise. Now, any second now, Jeremy will walk in through the door and see the robot!

I then sat in the chair and waited for Jeremy. And waited. And waited. And...waited...

My smile slowly went away. What the hell is going on? Why hasn't Jeremy walked in yet?!

RAT still stared at me with his smile. It was slowly becoming more disturbing.

Finally, I sighed and got up from my chair; Jeremy or no Jeremy, I gotta look at this thing up close once and for all!


	16. June 26, 1973, 4 Am

_**WARMING: THE MOST GRUESOME PART OF THE ENTIRE STORY IS UP AHEAD.**_

It was finally over. I smiled as I looked ahead of me and saw my work.

On the ground lay all four of the broken animatronic assholes. The pink cat was missing a face and arm. The drawing Animatronic had a busted jaw. The blue cat had ripped fur. The chimpanzee had a shattered jaw and ripped fur. And the one thing they all had in common? They all had splotches of red all over them.  
I smiled and took out my trusty lighter. As much as kids love this building...I DON'T! I reached down and grabbed the jug of gasoline and walked towards the damn machines.

"Bye-bye...kiddies," I told them with a smile.

I then raised the jug and prepared to start pouring it all over the robots, and then the whole restaurant. But that's when I heard the clinking sound.

I looked behind me and saw that the safe room was completely empty, yet I could see the pipe I had been using all night lying on the ground. The fuck...? I swore I left it leaning against the wall!

I lowered the jug and put the lighter in my pocket as I walked back into the safe room. I stared at the pipe, and then the wall, as if that would answer the damn question of what happened.

I groaned and picked up the pipe to lean it back against the wall. When I did, I turned around to head back to the robots. That's when I saw him.

He had short white hair and freckles. He stared at me with the blankest expression I had ever seen.

"The hell...?" I murmured to myself. "You...you're dead! I know you are!"

To convince myself, I looked behind me to see a curled up body in the corner of the room, right next to one of the spare game cabinets. He had the same exact color hair, only this one's was a bit dark red in some spots.

I turned back around and saw that the boy was still there, staring at me.

"I'm getting the fuck out of here!"

I ran past him and towards the doorway. When I got close, though, more children appeared! Not just any children, though; these ones were especially familiar.

The one with blue eyes. The one in the pink shirt. The girl who loved Blank. The one with a brown shirt. They all appeared in front of the doorway, appearing to block my only way out!

I turned back and saw the blonde boy inching towards me.

"STAY BACK!" I screamed as I ran past him.

I then ran towards the game cabinets and saw he was still after me! When he was too close to me, I ran back towards the doorway, but the 4 of them still blocked the path!

 **"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"**

I ran back towards the cabinets. That boy was still following me! I looked around for any way to get away from these things!

That's when I saw it: the empty, slumped over robot rat suit! It was put out of commission for whatever fucking reason, but I didn't care! Maybe I could fool the bastards into thinking I'm one of the animatronics!

I sprinted towards the suit and immediately picked it up to find the entrance for the damn thing. I finally found it in the back, and I quickly slid my legs, then arms, then head and torso into the suit!

I then stood up tall and looked down through the tiny eye sockets. I could see the blonde staring at me with that stupid blank face still plastered onto it. But, it had stopped moving towards me. I smiled inside the suit.

I then found myself giving a small laugh at the success of my brilliant plan. Then, it got louder and louder until I was in a full cackle! I couldn't believe the dumbass fell for it!

I kept hearing my laugh echo through the room. The next thing I heard, though, was a loud **SNAP** that made me stop laughing and gasp. It wasn't because the noise startled me; it was because I instantly felt sharp pain all through my body!

I heard another **SNAP** that made me scream in pain! I couldn't feel my legs or arms anymore! It's like they just disappeared from my damn body!

I kept screaming with all my energy as the pain got worse and worse! I then heard my screams get more and more muffled as I could feel my throat get as hot as Hell! I then realized it was because it was filling with blood!

I began coughing and coughing harder than I ever coughed in my life! I could barely feel myself falling as my legs gave out! I kept coughing as I sat on my ass and leaned my back against the wall. All the while, there was still pain EVERYWHERE!

My screams were still gurgled as I continued to cough! As I kept coughing, I could see a red puddle form around me! I slowly looked down and saw it was blood. MY blood! I coughed more and saw more blood fly out of my mouth, not as drops, but as what seemed like a river!

I then found myself gasping for breath as I heard yet another **SNAP!** I couldn't move after that. I could just sit there. The only thing I could feel was my mouth getting saltier as blood continued to flow out. I could only stare ahead of me. At the damn blonde boy with the blank face.

I took a few short breaths before my vision got blurry. Yet, I could still see that boy. It almost looked like...a smile was growing on his face.

Finally, I exhaled one more time before everything went black. No more feeling in my body. No more tasting blood. No more kids.


	17. Seeing the RAT

I slowly inched towards the robot in my doorway. He was still staring at me with glowing eyes and a creepy smile. As disturbing as he was, I need to find out what is going on with this thing!

I was finally a foot away from him. His face was really close to mine. When we got close enough, I found myself coughing. But it wasn't from the ventilation. It was from the smell.

I can't believe I didn't realize it before, but this suit smelled horrendous! Granted, it's been locked away for a few decades, but still! It's like something died in it...which honestly wouldn't surprise me, if this suit is what I think it is.

I continued to observe the robot from a short distance. I could see red stains all over the chest area, as well as the arms and legs. It almost looked like...blood...

I slowly backed away from the machine. It was still frozen in place, with its eyes still locked into mine. I think I finally have an understanding to everything. I gotta call Jeremy about this!

I pulled out my phone and dialed Jeremy's number, all the while keeping my eyes on RAT. The phone rang a few times before I got a response.

 _"Hi, this is Jeremy Fitzgerald of Candy's Fright: The Horror Attraction! I currently cannot answer the phone right now, but you can call either of my colleagues, Marilyn Schmidt and Reese Dresser, for any information on the attraction. If this is a personal call, just leave a message and I'll call you back ASAP! Thank you!"_

I hung up slowly, not breaking eye contact with the rat. What could Jeremy possibly be doing right now?! And why hasn't he told me?

Then, my heart dropped; I realized this is exactly what happened to Reese! Disappearing out of the blue, not answering calls...what the fuck is happening?

Suddenly, RAT quickly bolted towards the attraction and into the air vent, disappearing from view. As much as I should probably see what it's doing, I honestly just wanna get out of here!

I bolted out of the office and ran the opposite way, towards the exit. I unlocked the door, opened it up, left, and locked it back up. I then pulled out my phone and tried to call Jeremy again.

 _"Hi, this is Jeremy Fitzgerald of Candy's Fright: The Horror Attraction!"_

I hung up and felt myself slide down the door. If this is a prank between him and Reese, it's not funny! I'm seriously worried sick!

I then sighed and stood up. I really need to look into this whole thing even more.


	18. Night 6

I walked into the attraction right at midnight. The place opens to the public in exactly 24 hours. I have until that time to find Reese and Jeremy and get everything sorted out. Here's hoping...

I instantly opened the screen and looked for RAT. I found him on Cam 10, hiding off in the corner. I could already tell it was going to be a nightmare to survive tonight.

My phone rang, right on cue. Sure enough, it was Reese's phone calling. I answered and hoped for the best.

 _"Uh, hello? Hello?"_

The man in the recordings again. Figures.

 _"Uh, this is just to inform all employees that, due to budget restrictions, the previous mentioned safe rooms are being sealed at most locations, including this one."_

Sealed? Why would budget restrictions cause a safe room to be sealed?

 _"Work crews will be here most of the day today constructing a false wall over the old door base. Nothing is being taken out beforehand, so if you've left anything inside, then it's your own fault."_

Wow. They didn't hesitate to get them sealed!

 _"Management also requests that this room not be mentioned to family, friends, or insurance representatives."_

That's when my jaw dropped as I remembered my conversation with Morado. Could that safe room have something to do with what happened to the old employee in 1973?!

 _"Thanks again, and remember to smile; you are the face of Candy's Burger & Fries."_

Before I could say anything else, the phone hung up. I would try redialing, but I don't see a purpose at this point.

I looked back at the screen and saw RAT was nowhere to be found in Cam 10.

 _"Can I take your Order?"_

After playing the audio, the rat came back into view, looking around. As long as I keep him as far away from me as possible, I think I'll be fine.

Suddenly, the screen went black again. I quickly closed it and rolled over to the panel. Once I opened it, I pressed _'Camera System'_ and waited for it to reset. I couldn't afford to stay here for too long; the longer I'm here, the better the chance RAT can move closer to me!

Finally, it reset and I went back to the screen, where, sure enough, there weren't any signs of RAT.

 _"Hi"_

The audio then went offline, but I still waited. Nothing! Suddenly, I heard soft, metal thumping from my left...

I opened the vent cams and checked the farthest left vent. Not surprisingly, I saw my brown robot friend crawling very slowly through the shaft. Without a second thought, I double-tapped the button and waited for it to seal. When it finally did, RAT stopped and stayed in place as it tried to figure out what to do next.

While it did that, I closed my screen and turned towards the panel, trying to reset my audio. As long as it's as simple as this, I think I'll be fine.

The audio then reset and I went back to the screen. He was no longer in the vent, which is sort of expected. After switching back to the main camera, I was greeted by a familiar silhouette of a penguin blocking the screen!

Before I could do anything to react, the screen closed again and I saw a Phantom Penguin standing in front of me! He then screamed and lunged towards me! Even though I knew it wasn't real, I still screamed in fear.

The next thing I knew, the Penguin was gone and the red lights flashed throughout the room. I quickly scrolled back to the panel, trying to take as little breaths as possible. As I reset the ventilation, I kept thinking about these Phantoms and why they keep showing up! Is it really just the ventilation? Or is it something more...?

Anyway, the system reset and I could breathe normally. Now, back to finding RAT!

I looked at the screen and scrolled through the cams, trying to find him. I looked everywhere from the arcade to the entrance to the vents. Nothing! To say I was scared is an understatement!

That's when I looked in the Cam where there was supposed to be a Chester head on the wall. Instead of seeing that, though, I saw that the whole room was dark, and that the only light I **COULD** see revealed what looked like a giant wad of wires and metal all mangled together. I thought I could also see a white face with empty eye sockets...

Suddenly, a loud static noise blared in my ears! I could see _'audio error'_ on the screen as the static continued to screech. I closed the screen and hurried to get to the panel. When I got there, though, I glanced out the window and saw something right along the bottom of it! It almost looked like Blank...!

At any rate, the noise was still blasting in my ear, so I quickly opened the panel and restarted the audio. I really hope I don't wind up deaf from all this noise...

Finally, the audio reset and the noise stopped. I looked back towards the window and saw Blank's head go down. I was curious about that thing. Was that really a Phantom? If it wasn't, that was actually quite worse...

No matter; I **REALLY** need to find RAT! I went to the camera and looked through the cams. I still wasn't seeing any sign of him...this is really not good...

 _"Hello?"_

I played the audio in Cam 7, hoping it would work. Suddenly, I saw a dark outline appear in the door frame! I sighed with relief; I finally knew where he was!

But, as luck would have it, my screen went black. I groaned and went back to the panel. Why must I continue to have difficulty with this maintenence panel?!

As I waited for it to reset, I thought I could make out a familiar silhouette of a cat walking across the window again. I stayed focused on the panel; I didn't want to worry about any more Phantoms.

When it finally reset, I quickly closed the panel and rolled back to the screen, ignoring the Phantom New Candy in the process. I looked back at the screen and saw RAT had escaped my sight, yet again.

I looked in the adjacent rooms, seeing where I could find him. That's when I checked Cam 8 and my eyes widened; in the end of hallway, standing tall and menacingly, was a figure with a gray face and tall, skinny limbs. He also sported a spooky smile and scary eye sockets.

Just then, another ringing sound played in my ears, but it sounded less like static this time. My vision also went black for a moment. The worst part is that I suddenly felt paralyzed!

The lights then went back on and I saw a burnt version of the figure I had just seen in the hallway, only he was now in front of my face! His eyes appeared to be glowing the same familiar glow as he stared at me. All the while, the ringing continued and I remained still. Maybe it was fear, or maybe something paranormal. Either way, I was stuck.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Phantom Reverse Puppet disappeared and I felt myself sweating heavily. The ringing gradually got quieter as I looked around with confusion. What the fuck was **THAT** about?!

That's when I remembered RAT! I went back to the screen to try and look for him. I definitely got to be careful which cameras I look at, though...

That's when I saw him in Cam 2, which would put him in the hallway to the right of my office. He's close, but that's as close as he needs to be before it gets really risky!

I continued to stare at the brown robot with extreme focus. Any more distractions could cause me certain doom for sure! I continued to stare at him through the screen, waiting for his next move.

Suddenly, my ventilation went offline! You know what, though? I don't care! I'm just gunna sit here and watch this damn thing no matter what!

I continued to stare at him. He was just sitting there, almost as if he could see me through the camera. I then found myself coughing a bit. But I still need to watch him!

My vision then went a bit black. I found myself blinking really fast. I kept on coughing.

I don't remember much after that. All I know is RAT was still in the screen, staring at me. Then, my vision went black.

I opened my eyes back up and looked around. Everything seemed normal... I looked at the clock. 5:30 am? How long had I been out...?

That's when my heart started beating rapidly; where was RAT?! I went back into the cameras and looked around rapidly. No sign of him anywhere! Shit...

I then put the screen away. When I did, I heard a loud scream as a figure appeared in front of me! But it wasn't a Phantom. No, it was a yellow, decomposed rabbit that I had been watching all week.

The next thing I knew, it tackled me, causing me to fall backwards out of my chair! Laying on my back, I looked at RAT in horror as I felt a tight grip on my shoulders. His smelly face was right up to mine, and he still sported that stupid grin.

That's when I heard it say something. Something I never heard it say before. It was a slight (and I mean **very** slight) whisper, but it was said.

 _"It's...me...!"_

My eyes widened. What was **THAT** supposed to mean?

I then used all my strength to push RAT off of me. He flew backwards and onto the desk! That's when I got up and ran towards the office door, sprinting with all my stamina!

I left the office and turned left, taking me to the exit. I then pushed the door. Nothing. I pushed again. It didn't open!

Well, I guess if I'm going to get out of here, I'm going to have to take the long way; let's hope I can do it in one piece!


	19. June 26, 1973, 5 Am

_**WARNING: NO VIOLENCE, THOUGH YOU MAY EXPERIENCE HEAVY FEELS!**_

I looked at him. The other 4 did, too. He hasn't moved in what felt like an hour. All I could see of him were two eyes in the sockets. The rest was covered by the brown RAT, who looked nice and peaceful before the man who hurt us went inside of him. Now he's covered in red splotches that make him look ugly!

"Now what?" I heard the girl with big blue eyes ask very quietly.

"Can we go home now?" The boy in the purple shirt asked.

"How should I know?" I replied.

"I just wanna see my mommy and daddy again!" The other girl cried with tears rolling down her face.

"Me, too!" The red-shirted boy agreed.

"I'm sure we'll see them again!" I told them both confidently. "Let's just wait for one of the adults to come in and help us!"

 _"YOU CAN'T!"_

We all turned towards the doorway and saw a tall person with really skinny arms and legs. He also had a skinny body, too! But what really got our attentions was the gray face with a big frown and purple stripes under his scary eyes.

"RUN!" The blue-eyed girl screamed to the rest of us.

 _"No! Please! Don't leave me alone!"_

We all then stopped. The figure slowly bent down and started shaking.

 _"Please...I don't wanna be alone anymore..."_

It almost sounded like...a kid. A little boy a few years younger than me.

We continued to stare at it, but in amazement, instead of fear. It was nothing like I'd ever seen before...

"What's your name?" I asked it.

It just sat there in silence for a few seconds before slowly looking down.

 _"I...I don't know. It's been so long since...since I've been called by a name."_

"What are you?" The purple-shirted boy asked.

 _"I'm a kid, like you guys! I just...don't look like it."_

"Clearly!" The blue-eyed girl scoffed. The other girl hit her on the head as she gave a mean look.

 _"All I know,"_ it continued, _"is that my Momma was being hurt by my Daddy...so I ran outside and towards the safest place I could think of...my friend The Cat's house."_

"The Cat?" I asked in confusion. "Don't you mean Candy the Cat?"

 _"I don't know...maybe. Anyway, the man inside said he'd let me inside and see Cat in a minute. But the next thing I knew, I hurt in my side...and then I could see myself lying down, like I was sleeping. But I was all red..."_

"You mean, like us?" I asked.

 _"I guess so...I also saw a purple man run away from my sleeping body and into a car. I don't remember much after that...but I do know I got mad!"_

"Mad?" The red-shirted boy asked. "Why?"

 _"Because a grown-up wouldn't let me see Cat! And then a grown-up hurt me! And I couldn't see my momma or daddy again! I could only stay here...and it's all because of grown-ups!"_

"That's just like us!" I said with giant eyes. "That man hurt us. All of us..."

 _"That's because he's a grown-up. All grown-ups want to hurt us!"_

"Really?" The purple-shirted boy asked.

 _"Well, every grown-up at this place does! That's why I want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else!"_

"How are you going to do that?" I asked.

 _"With your guys' help!"_

"Us? What can we do?"

 _"Well, I can't do anything in this puppet-thing I found and climbed into after that man hurt me. But you...look where he put your sleeping bodies!"_

We all looked past him and saw our 4 animal friends lying on the ground. I had seen him put their sleeping selves into each of them after he...well...

 _"I can make you guys control the animals! Then you can hurt the grown-ups for being mean to us!"_

"But, I thought grown-ups were supposed to help us..." the younger girl said quietly.

 _"So did I...but look what they've done to all of us!"_

We then looked at each other. As much as I hated to admit it...this kid/puppet was right. We need to stop grown-ups from hurting anyone else!

"I just have one question," I told him. "What about me?"

 _"Well...I saw another animal that I think you can go into in a room nearby!"_

"What kind of animal?"

 _"It looks like the cat over there...but purple!"_

"Purple?! That's my favorite color!"

 _"So you'll all do it? You'll help me?"_

"Sure," I told him. "I'll help!"

"Me, too!" The blue-eyed girl told him.

"Me, three!"

"Me, four!"

"Me, five!"

 _"Yay! Ok! I'll help you all into the suits!"_

"Wait!" I suddenly asked.

 _"What?"_

"What about the man that hurt us all? The one in the brown rat?"

 _"Don't worry; I know how to make him pay..."_


	20. True Fright

I ran down the hallway in front of the office. I took a glance through the window and saw RAT was nowhere to be seen! I really hope he just fell on the floor...

I then found myself in the corridor with the Cindy shell at the end of it. I just needed to make a run towards it and make a left! That's when I felt something grab my ankle.

I looked down and I noticed I was right by the air vent...and a brown arm was extended out of it and the hand was around my leg! I used my free leg to stomp on the animatronic limb a few times. It finally loosened its grip and I slipped out and towards the Cindy.

I then made a left and found myself in the hallway towards the arcade _._ But I can take a shortcut through the hallway with the Candy light! I made a quick right and bolted towards the end of the hall.

From there, I made another right and I saw the exit (or rather, entrance) in plain sight! I really hope this door is unlocked...but then I saw a familiar figure slowly emerge from the vent by the door. But...that's impossible! That vent was sealed off! Unless...RAT unsealed it?

Either way, the robot was right by my source of freedom, so I need to get away from it! That's when I saw a vent right next to me. If my memory is correct, it should be able to take me back to the hallway outside of my office. It's a huge backtrack, but it should at least keep me safe.

I quickly crawled into the shaft and climbed down the path. Unfortunately, it was completely dark, so I'm only relying on my sense of sound and touch.

I crawled through for what seemed like forever...I'm honestly not even sure what time it is, but I don't think hearing the clock ring 6 am is going to make a difference.

Suddenly, a light flashed right in my face! After blinking a bit, I saw a camera right along the edge of the vent, which also appeared to be the source of the light. So, this is how I can see clearly through the vents...

That's when I heard a whirring noise. I looked forward and saw a grate slowly lower! Shit! I'm being sealed in! I tried crawling even faster, but it was too late; the grate went down. I'm trapped...

I looked behind me and I saw a vent path that could lead to (what I believe to be) the arcade. I guess it's my only shot...and maybe I could make it back to the entrance!

It was a tight maneuver, but I turned around and went back towards the vent. I crawled as fast as I could towards the arcade opening. When I finally made it out, I looked around and saw the game cabinets were lit up, which is only weird because they were off all night!

The one that got my attention the most was the newest one...I thought it was supposed to only have those 3 games...but I saw a 4th option on the screen. I walked over to it and looked at it. It read, _"Happiest Day"_.

I then heard footsteps rapidly approaching me. I realized I had more important things to than look at a stupid, glitchy game cabinet! I ran out of the arcade and towards the hallway towards the entrance again.

After a large sprint, I saw that the exit was completely free. No robots. No Phantoms. Nobody. I then ran towards the door and pushed it. I think my heart stopped for a few seconds when I realized it didn't open...

I kept pushing it, screaming in terror and frustration. Why aren't these damn doors opening?! Surely they should be unlocked from the inside...!

I heard footsteps from behind me. I looked and saw RAT in the doorway to the hallway, only he was holding something. It looked long and narrow, like a lead pipe!

I looked across from me and I saw the open air vent. I can at least make it back to the office from here! I ran to the opening and bent down to climb in. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw the robot sprint towards me! I hurried as fast as I could to get in. I almost had my legs in...but then I felt a sharp pain in my calf as something hit it with a loud THUD!

As I screamed in pain, I felt something grab my leg tightly and pull on it. I tried putting my hands on the sides of the vent to try and stop myself from sliding. I also kicked my legs with all my strength to loosen the machine's grip on me.

Despite my best efforts, I was yanked out of the shaft. When I was out, I looked and saw a brown arm was tight on my leg and another one was holding the pipe above me!

I moved my body out of the way before the pipe went down right where I would've been! In a last-ditch effort, I reached towards the fallen pipe and grabbed it. I then yanked it out of the robot's hands as I smacked it on the head! It let go of my leg as both of its hands grabbed where I hit it.

I quickly got up and swung at it again! This time, it was right in top of the head, between the ears! This time, RAT fell completely to the floor, lying on its back. With no thought going into it, I swung the pipe at its face. A loud CRACK! was heard as I did it.

I swung again and hit him in the forehead. CRACK! I could see a giant split form alongside his head. I didn't care, though; I swung again!

CRACK! This time, I hit him so hard that his entire face flew off! When it did, though, I stopped swinging and I looked in horror.

Under the mask was an animatronic endoskeleton...mushed together with that looked like a human skull! It was red from decomposition, but it was definitely human! I think this finally explains the awful smell... If I had to guess, this body must've been in here for decades...

RAT then quickly stood up and lunged at me! He tackled me to the ground, and his hands wrapped around my throat! I tried to pry them off, but it was no use; this machine was stronger than human muscles!

I stared at RAT's glowing animatronic eyes, which were located right in the eye sockets of the skull. I tried gasping for air, but what little breath I did get was filled with the aroma of a rotting corpse.

My vision started going black again. I couldn't get any more strength to try and defend myself. This is it. I'm going to die from a robot. All because the doors were locked. I hope there was a good reason for that.

The last thing I saw before blacking out again was the rotten face of the greatest part of our attraction.


	21. Burn in Hell

''Dude, are you sure we didn't go too far?"

"I'm sure, Reese; Marilyn knows how to take a joke!"

"But faking disappearances?"

"Ok, maybe she'll be a bit pissed...but it'll be perfect for setting her in the mood for the attraction!"

"I guess, Man...but was blocking the exits from the outside really necessary? I mean, what if there's, like, an emergency?"

"Like what? You know the whole 'faulty wiring' thing was just a joke."

"I know, but I'm worried, Man..."

"Just relax. It's 6 am and we're almost there. That's when we'll head inside and tell Marilyn everything."

"I guess you're right..."

Reese and I were silent for the rest of the car ride over to Candy's Fright. I began thinking about what she said, about taking the 'vanishing' prank too far. Sure, Marilyn can be gullible, but she knows how to take a joke. I'm sure she'll be fine.

We finally pulled up to the attraction and walked to the entrance, which had a metal bar across it, locking the door.

"The building's still in one piece," I told Reese in reassurance. She slowly nodded in response as she adjusted her shades.

I pulled the bar off and opened the door. My original plan was to call out to Marilyn in a weird voice from this end to freak her out. Instead, I gasped as I saw a familiar figure lying on her back with her eyes and mouth open...and wasn't moving.

"MARILYN!" I screamed as I ran towards my friend.

I bent down next to her and shook her. Her eyes remained open, her mouth remained open...and her chest wasn't rising. I put my fingers on her neck, desperately looking for a pulse. I felt mine rise when I couldn't find her at all.

"Oh, shit! Shit shit shit shit!" I screamed as I stood up and turned towards Jeremy, who was staring at our friend with hie jaw on the floor, metaphorically speaking.

"She's not breathing!" I told him.

"What do you mean she's not breathing?!"

"I MEAN SHE DOESN'T HAVE A DAMN PULSE!"

"What happened?!"

"I'm not a doctor, dumbass! How should I know?!"

Reese then hustled over to Marilyn and looked at her closely.

"Are those bruises on her neck?" She finally asked as she raised his shades a bit.

I looked and, sure enough, there were large purple areas on her throat that looked pretty fresh. Too fresh...

"Did someone come in here and strangle her?!" Jeremy suddenly gasped.

"How could anyone have gotten in and put the bar back on the door from the outside?" I replied with a pounding heart.

"Well, there aren't any windows, the exterior ventilation is too high up, so what else could it possibly be?"

"Well, the only other solution I can think of is there was already someone here before we locked it..."

"But, Dude, we locked it at midnight, right after she went in!"

"Look, Jeremy, I don't know what happened, but-!"

I then stopped and looked past him. At the end of the hall, standing high and mighty, was the rat animatronic we found at the beginning of the week. Only now, it seemed to be missing its mask. And I could see a human skull mixed inside of the metal head.

"What is it, Man?" Jeremy asked.

He then looked around and saw it, too. He froze when he looked at the disturbing sight.

"What the...?" He whispered.

"I thought Elena didn't fix it," I whispered in response.

"Same here, Man...let alone make it look terrifying!"

Suddenly, it slowly walked towards us, with its footsteps seeming to boom as it got closer.

"Dude...I don't like this!"

"Me neither!"

I then stopped. Something didn't smell right. And that's not an expression; something literally didn't smell right.

"Reese...?"

"...yeah, Jeremy?"

"...do you smell that?"

"You mean the sweaty smell? Sorry, Man, that's just me..."

"No, I'm talking about the...smokey smell."

I looked back towards the hallway and saw what looked like a small bit of light near the robot's leg. It took a second to realize it was a flame!

"It's on fire!" I gasped. "It's burning!"

The machine then stopped and looked down at itself, as if it could hear me... It then started swatting at the flame, trying to extinguish it. Unfortunately, all that happened was the fire spread to the hand!

I might've been imagining things, but I think it started screaming! It was low-pitched and almost demonic, but it was definitely sounding like some sort of howl.

That's when I saw a spark from the fire fly off the robot...and onto one of the drawings! Seeing as how this is paper that's 30 years old...it's dry and REALLY flammable! The fire quickly built up and spread to the other drawings next to it!

"Oh, shit!" I screamed. "Let's get out of here!"

"What about Marilyn?!" Reese asked in reply.

"She's dead, Reese! There's nothing we can do!"

I then ran out the door and into the parking lot. I looked and saw Reese right behind me, closing the door behind her in the process. Normally, I'd ask why, but it's fairly obvious she didn't want that RAT thing following us out...for obvious reasons.

"Why couldn't we have just installed a damn sprinkler system?!" I asked nobody in particular as I pulled out my phone to call 911.

"Dude..."

I looked up and saw black smoke pouring out of the ventilation shafts up top. The fire was really spreading fast; we made it out just in time!

"Well, this is perfect," I murmured with a sight watery feeling in my eye, and not from the smoke. "My friend is dead because she couldn't leave, and the business we put so much into is on fire..."

I put the phone to my ear and waited for the dispatcher to answer. This was going to be fun to explain.


	22. Aftermath

''So to be clear, Mrs. Dresser," the officer concluded as he looked at his notebook, "you pretended to go missing for about a week, when in actuality you were staying at a motel?"

"Pretty much..." Reese replied as she rubbed the back of her head.

"And, Mr. Fitzgerald , you decided it would be a good idea to block all of the exits in the establishment Mrs. Schmidt was in?"

"Well...I suppose so."

"And you claim the fire started because of faulty wiring in an old animatronic robot?"

"We believe so, yes."

"Well, we still have a lot to look into about this whole thing. Stay in town until we can figure out what exactly happened."

"Of course, Officer."

He then tipped his hat and walked towards his car. I then slowly looked towards the attraction. I suppose it's a real relief that the outside miraculously survived. You honestly would never expect a giant fire occurred inside.

The fire department was still firing their hoses into the doorway, trying to extinguish whatever flames remained. Reese and I haven't been allowed inside yet, but I'm not sure if I'd want to go in, anyway...

"Dude...we fucked up big time..." Reese said quietly.

"I know...but how were we supposed to know about that damn robot?!"

"We weren't, I suppose..."

I continued to stare at the building. All this money and time put into the business...wasted. We lost a lot of things in the span of an hour, including our friend's life! To say I felt guilty was an understatement...

"Excuse me, gentlemen."

I turned and saw what appeared to be the head firefighter walking towards us.

"Yes?" I replied.

"I have a short list of things that survived the fire," he told us as he pulled out a clipboard.

"What made it?" Reese asked.

"Well, as I said, it's a short one. All we found were a few bobble heads, an arcade cabinet, and a gray puppet mask."

"That's all?"

"Well, that and..."

He then pointed behind him and I looked past him. My eyes widened as I did. I could see paramedics rolling a stretcher across the parking lot towards the ambulance. The stretcher was covered with a white sheet, but I could see an unburned human arm hanging down!

"You mean...Marilyn's body...?"

"Call it a miracle, but she was completely untouched from any burns or ash! They're taking her to the hospital to perform an autopsy."

"I see..."

"I think we should be done extinguishing the flames," he concluded as he turned back towards the building. "If you wish to head inside, you may."

"Thank you," I replied with a nod. He then gave a nod back and went to the firetruck.

"What do you say, Man?" Reese asked. "Wanna look inside?"

"...sure. Why not?"

We then went to the entrance and walked through the doorway. All we could see was black and gray everywhere...save for a perfect outline on the floor where our dead friend was lying.

"How did she not get burned...?" I asked quietly to myself. Reese remained quiet. Not that I expected him to know the answer.

I then walked along to the next hallway, where the only thing that wasn't black and crumbled was, as the fireman said, the Reverse Puppet mask. A bit weird how THAT survived, too.

Finally, we got to the arcade, where all the other cabinets were nothing but collapsed metal and wire. However, the only cabinet remaining was at the far end. I recognized it as the newest one we found. The one that worked. The one that...was currently on?

I walked to it and looked at the screen. I could've sworn there were 3 games on this thing...so why do I see a 4th option called ' _Happiest Day'_?

I selected it and instantly found what looked like a small gray figure in some sort of party. There were tables in the background with a few people wearing what looked like animal masks. They didn't look like any characters from Candy's Burger & Fries, though.

I scrolled the character to the left a bit. It was still nothing but tables with people wearing masks. What the hell is going on in this thing?

Finally, I came across a table where there was only one person. It was gray, as well, and it looked...sad. Next to the table were 4 more gray people that were wearing masks, only these ones were recognizable; it was two cat, a blank animatronic, and a chimpanzee.

I moved my character towards the table and towards the crying person. When it touched the table, though, the character stopped, and a giant cake appeared on the table!

Suddenly, the crying person seemed to open its eyes and look at the cake. Then, out of the blue, a mask appeared on its face! It looked like a Blue Cat, as well, only a lighter shade of blue as the other Candy's one.

Then, all 6 gray figures disappeared, with colorful balloons replacing them and floating away. The only thing left of them besides that were their masks, which fell to the floor. The one that got my attention, though, was the one that appeared in place of my character. It looked like a familiar white mask with purple stripes and a giant smile...

Suddenly, the cabinet sparked and shut off! I backed up and screamed when it did. I then looked at the machine. It looked like it was broken for good now.

"C'mon," I told Reese. "Let's keep going."

We then continued down the hall, looking at all the burnt artifacts along the way. All of these things are irreplaceable. And now they're gone. What a waste...

Finally, we got to the office doorway and saw everything was charred except for the 3 figurines on the desk. It's truly devastating seeing all of this destruction.

We then walked outside through the exit and looked at each other.

"What do you think is going to happen to us?" Reese asked.

"Well, the worst I forsee is getting attested for manslaughter."

"Comforting..."

"You asked."

I then rubbed my eyes and shook my head. I can't imagine what Marilyn went through. Was he thinking about us in her final moments? Did she suspect that the blocked doors were our fault?! Were her last seconds of life spent in anger for what we did?

"Uh, Jeremy?"

"What?"

"Do you see this?"

I opened my eyes and looked in front of me. I think I know what Jeremy was talking about: 5 little kids who seemed to appear from out of nowhere.

The one in the center had blonde hair and freckles, and he seemed fixated on me and Reese. Then, a small smile emerged on his face.

"Don't worry," he told us. "We made sure she was safe."

I stared in confusion at the kids. What was that supposed to mean?

"We thought all grown-ups were bad," he continued. "But now we know they're all not. Even though we couldn't save your friend from the man that hurt us, we made sure the fire didn't get her."

I continued to stare at him. Was this really happening right now?

"I know you probably don't understand," he told me. "All you need to know...is that she'll forgive you eventually."

Then, in the blink of an eye, they all disappeared. I kept blinking; they were still gone.

"You...saw that, too, right?" Reese asked.

"Yeah..." I murmured.

I then looked up towards the sky. The sun was blaring bright in my eyes as I stared. Was that child serious about Marilyn? That she'll forgive us...eventually?

All I know for sure is that we have a hell of a lot to go through still. I just hope it goes as smoothly as possible.


	23. Epilogue

I stared at the marble rectangle that marked the spot where my friend was lying 6 feet underground. I read the words again:

 ** _Marilyn Schmidt_**  
 _ **June 20th, 1991-June 25th, 2017**_

I slowly shook my head. I felt like the worst friend in the world; not only was I partially responsible for her death, but I didn't even acknowledge the woman 26th birthday! Some friend I am...

Ever since that day Candy's Fright burnt down, I've been thinking about those children and what that blonde boy told me. I've been asking myself if Marilyn will forgive Reese and I from beyond the grave...

"Hey, Jeremy."

I turned around and saw a familiar woman walking towards me. She was tall, had short, brownish-blonde hair, and a small black soul patch.

"Hey, Skyler," I replied. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd pay my respects."

"I see."

We both then stood there quietly at Marilyn's grave. I don't know what Skyler was thinking, but I know I was thinking of what I could've done to prevent my friend's death. I could've dragged her body out of the building. I could've tried CPR. I could've just not blocked the damn doors at all!

Suddenly, I heard a phone buzzing. Skyler then took the phone out of her pocket and answered.

"Hey!" She said with enthusiasm and a smile.

There was a pause before his smile slowly shrunk.

"Really?"

She waited again.

"O...k..."

She then handed his phone to me.

"She wants to talk to you," she told me.

She?

Anyway, I took the phone and held it to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked.

 _"Hi!"_ The voice on the other end replied. It was definitely a girl. She sounded like she was in her early twenties.

"Who is this?"

 _"Oh, I'm sorry; I'm Marilyn's friend from Wisconsin. I believe she mentions me sometimes?"_

"Oh, yeah! Uh...Maddie, was it?"

 _"Madison, but close enough."_

"So, why do you want to talk to me, Madison?"

 _"Because I have someone here that I think you need to talk to."_

"Oh?"

I then heard silence before I heard a voice I never thought I'd hear again.

 _"Jeremy?"_

I almost dropped the phone in shock. I wanted to believe this was a cruel joke, but how could it be?"

"M...Marilyn?!"

I could see Skyler's eyes widen when I said that.

 _"Yeah, it's me, from the afterlife."_

I just stood there. He was able to talk to me this easily? Wait...so, was Marilyn's friend a dead girl?

 _"Jeremy...I need to ask you something."_

"Uh, sure...anything!"

 _"It's nothing big, it's just..._ _WHY DID YOU BLOCK THE DOORS?!_ _"_

"I...guess I don't have a good reason. I'm just a terrible person who played a terrible joke."

 _"...Jeremy, you're not a terrible person."_

"You're dead because of my idiotic decision! And on top of that, I forgot your birthday!"

 _"...huh? My birthday?"_

"Don't act stupid, Marilyn."

There was a pause.

 _"OHHHH! That's right! It_ _was_ _my birthday recently, wasn't it?"_

"You mean...you forgot your own birthday?!"

 _"Heh. I guess I did. I was so focused on the attraction..."_

"...oh..."

More silence.

 _"Jeremy, there's something you need to know."_

"What's that?"

 _"There's no way you could've saved me."_

"Huh?"

 _"I was already dead by the time you found me."_

"I know, but maybe the medics could've revived you!"

 _"I know you think that, but they couldn't have."_

I just sighed.

"I...I'm really sorry, Marilyn. Really."

 _"You couldn't have known what RAT was capable of."_

"Still! I shouldn't have blocked the door!"

 _"...admittedly, maybe you shouldn't have."_

"We're just lucky our lawyers got us out of the manslaughter charges; that was the last thing we needed to deal with."

 _"I'm sure."_

"So, if you don't mind me asking...what's the afterlife like?"

 _"It's better than anything I could've imagined! Madison has been showing me around the place and telling her story about how she got here."_

"How DID she get there?"

 _"Trust me: you don't wanna know."_

"Ok then..."

 _"Hey, I'm gonna have to go in a minute, Jeremy; this uses up a lot of my energy!"_

"...will we ever talk again?"

 _"Of course! Once I figure out this whole spirit communication thing, I can start calling_ _YOUR_ _phone."_

"That's good, I suppose."

 _"So, we'll talk again soon, then!"_

"Okay...and, Marilyn?"

 _"Yeah?"_

"I really am sorry."

 _"It's OK; I forgive you."_

My heart started rapidly beating again.

"You...do?"

 _"Of course! Nobody has perfect friends, and, again, there's no way you could've known what would happen."_

"I suppose."

 _"Ok, I really need to go now. See ya, Jeremy!"_

"See ya...Marilyn."

The phone then hung up. I continued to hold it to my ear for a few more seconds before I pulled it away and gave it back to its owner.

"Crazy, right?" Skyler asked with a nervous chuckle.

"That's an understatement," I replied quietly.

Suddenly, my own cell phone rang. I pulled it out and saw it was Reese.

"Yeah?" I asked.

 _"Jeremy! We have a problem, Man!"_

"What is it?"

 _"You know that newspaper article that, like, talks about the attraction burning down?"_

"Of course..."

I then reached into my pocket and pulled out the folded-up clipping. I took it out and read it again.

 **"IT BURNS!**  
 **Candy's** **Fright burns to the ground!"**

 **"** _ **A new local attraction based on an ancient pizzeria chain burnt down overnight.**_

 _ **Authorities have not ruled out foul play, but** **at this moment it seems to have been caused by faulty wiring**._

 _ **Very little was found at the scene. The few items that were salvaged will be sold at public auction."**_

"What about it?" I asked Reese.

 _"I was looking at the image next to the article, and...well..."_

I looked at the picture in question and saw only a black-and-white image of the Candy the Cat figurine that managed to survive the fire.

"All I see is the Candy," I replied.

 _"But, Dude...I swear I can see...RAT behind it!"_

I looked at the picture a bit closer. It was completely pitch black behind the figurine, so it was difficult to see anything.

"I think you're just seeing things," I replied. "You just need to get some rest."

 _"...maybe...alright, Man. Sorry about that."_

"It's fine. I'll see ya tomorrow."

 _"Alright. See ya."_

I hung up and looked at the article again. It's no wonder Reese might be paranoid; no matter how hard the fire department looked, they couldn't find any sign of an animatronic anywhere. It's as if it was never there...

This has been an interesting week; I lost my friend, my business burnt down, and there's possibly a homicidal robot on the loose! I guess you could call this whole experience a... Nightmare.

THE END


End file.
